Rants, Raves & Rambles under the Midnight Sun

The growing season commences

2012-01-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

Despite the miserably cold winter we're having with many days below zero and an embarrassment of snow, planting has commenced. Alaska gardeners have to be the most optimistic people in the world. Who else eagerly orders their seeds before the Christmas tree has been put away? Who else readies the indoor lights and planting media when there's barely six hours of daylight?

This explains the shamble in the garage and pantry, as everything gets shuffled around to make room for the planting racks, and to accommodate good air flow. In just a few weeks, I will have every rack filled and the overhead lighting system running 15 hours a day, with a completely jam packed table underneath it. Which is why, as I look at the varieties of seeds on hand, I find myself dreaming about having a couple more racks, and another track light-lunacy and want can make a person goofy this time of year ;)

Oh heck, if I am dreaming big, I'll just include the big greenhouse, up and waiting for me to light the heat and fill it with starts......that can't come soon enough for me, but without it, I will be (as every year) beyond cramped for space! With increasing sales come increasing needs-a challenge to be faced and overcome. I have faith we'll manage :)

The New Year

2012-01-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

has arrived, at long last!

Goodbye, 2011...and don't let the door smack you on the way out :)

In 2011, I discovered on several fronts, just how wrong my definition of friends, acquaintances, and opponents was.....people I thought were "friends" were users and abusers, people I thought were just "folks I know" turned out to be of both magnitudes better (and worse) character and I learned that opponents (or enemies, if you prefer) will sink to any depth to wound and maim. Boy, that's a mouthful, isn't it? Setting aside a few hours for true reflection every year is not a bad thing. I'll probably be a little more cautious in the future. A little less trusting. And heaven knows I will try to be a better communicator because that will serve me best, no matter what comes :)

So instead of dwelling on the negative, I resolve to look into the year to come with anticipation. And really, there is a lot to look forward to if I allow myself. In no particular order then......

First, I am still working. Yeah for me! I may end up laid off for a couple months shortly, but after the initial shock wore off, I am confident I can handle it emotionally and financially.

Secondly, health is much better. Last year I finally got the diagnosis of excema and chronic bronchial allergies. Thankfully, modern medicine provides relief and I am still learning how to cope with these two conditions. That said, I am oh so happy not to have a constantly runny nose and cough :)

Third, my son and husband remain the light and the rock of my life. Without their help and love, my life would be a joyless wasteland of struggle and heartbreak.

Fourth, my tiny business looks to be expanding. Not sure how much it will grow, but grow it will.

Fifth, the barn and how I view it has changed. I don't own Reba any longer (big long fight on my Facebook page about that, but in the end, I sent them a bill of sale) and I've moved into having some turkeys. The two broad breasted white birds are finally in the freezer-at 17 and 38 pounds dressed, mind you-and the four baby Sweetgrass birds are not really "babies" any longer. I like them, and with luck we'll have some turkey chicks this coming spring to sell. Since I made the firm decision not to board any more horses for any reason, I can work on making the critter foot print up there smaller-and give back some space to my husband too.

Sixth, the Alaska Goat Association. Something positive from the ashes of the Mini Goat Cache! I am move "involved" than I care to be in some aspects, but I am delighted just the same. The future is bright and the first clinic of the year is this coming weekend. It's amazing to me, that all these people came together and made it happen because they knew it would be a good thing. And it is.

Like all of us, I have some big plans, and small ones, for this coming year. I'll be growing plenty of vegetables as usual, work too hard potting up and putting in the gardens, and work at adding to the hard scape here with more edible plants. As always, my growing son and loving husband will pitch in, just because that's what they do. (Ok, so my son is drug along for muscle, lol)

I am sure there will be strife, and disappointment, and fears realized and all that-but I don't expect the world to end on December 21st ;)

Epilog how many?

2011-11-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

Since donning the role of reporter for the many machinations of the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, those of you who have followed along with this saga have no doubt been amused, appalled, offended, and affronted as I related the events over time.

I do appreciate the emails and phone calls in support, I truly do. At this point, I'll say that the $20 or $25 paid to the group, has provided endless hours of entertainment...but some sagas continue to have epilogs and thus, my post today.

It came to my attention that the Alaska Mini Goat Cache published a newsletter. This is only notable for the whining "woe is us" tone and outrageously erroneous statements made by the officers in charge. However, one item of note is that they have established a checking account or some sort of "relation" with their credit union (the same credit union they blamed in court for breaking fiduciary trust, mind you) Well, you'd think they would get their business affairs in order, now that they are having meetings. So far, all they have managed to do is send more expulsion letters out.

Yep, a handful (that I know about) of carbon copy form letters were received last week by individuals who joined in January. "You have been found in violation of blah blah blah by a two thirds vote of the board...." and so on. Looks like they found the missing files for the club, yes? And all the applications that were handed over to then-president Laura Manary at the beginning of that January meeting where the polling took place that no one saw.....are now used to identify and expel people who might have otherwise been wonderful assets of that club. You know, like the doctor? The executive? The breeders? The people who actually show and market their goats?

Naturally I found this sadly amusing, and on a whim, I checked the status of the small claims suit. On the dockets, I discovered that the judgment which was mailed from the court, to the club, was returned. Evidently their mailing address is in error. Like just about everything else they've done since December of last year. Sigh. Of course, just because you don't have a copy, doesn't mean the judgement is not valid, Alaska Mini Goat Cache.

They had another meeting last weekend, and according to one snippet I read, there were not enough officers to conduct a meeting, never mind that no one showed up but two of them. Nope, no members at all. Oh woe is the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, persevering in the face of adversity from all the meanies in the world-and all that crap. Not!

I mean really, how do you know if you are a member, or not? They've had just one meeting since January. They have "opened" nominations for next years' officer positions and I'm pretty sure the same crew will be "re-elected" since no has any idea what is going on or whether they are a member. And if you have paid your dues, you can be booted at any time for no reason at all.And they'll keep your money too.Look what happened to everyone who attended the January meeting....nearly all expelled now.

Look what happened to me, Suz, Margie, and Rachel. The "board" decided they didn't want us in their public club and expelled us the same day we paid. And except for myself (and Margie who wrote the letter) no one has gotten their money back. And I had to sue them to get it, lol

That's about as neat a scam on the public as I've had the misfortune to witness. Seriously. What a way to build the bank account...you take someone's money, then expel them, then say the bylaws don't allow the return of that money.

Something to think about if you have any thoughts in your head about joining, or renewing your membership in that private club.Or, you could join a truly friendly club, one that does not hide behind closed doors and make unilateral decisions that go against member wishes. You could join a club where there are no officers, where everyone has an equal voice, where any interaction qualifies as a "meeting" and everyone-and I do mean everyone, is welcome.

Yep, that includes Heather Fair, Laura Manary, Rayna Fritcher, Tisa Witham and crew.

The Alaska Goat Association is an open and transparent group. We welcome anyone who has an interest, no matter who you are :)

Busy couple of weeks

2011-11-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here we are, firmly into the "winter season" already. My gosh, how did that happen? So much has gone on over the past three weeks, I am not sure where to start, lol

Let's see, old business. The Alaska Mini Goat Cache advertised a meeting back in late October. Now they are having another one this coming weekend. Oh, and it's only for "members in good standing". Ahem. Insert rolling eyeballs at the discrimination with me, will you? Because we all know, that a member in good standing, is whoever Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher decide passes their personal sniff test. Which would not be the dozen plus people who joined back in January (remember your own ByLaws, gals) and who have not been acknowledged. And likely won't be. They aren't out of the woods yet, on what they've done. In fact, they can't seem to get their cornflakes in a pile and do the simple, expedient thing: Take some of that cash that Heather Fair testified she had on hand, and open a new checking account. Then, move that PayPal cash (which Heather Fair also testified she had access to) right into that new account. A half dozen counter checks and voila'! They're in business, woot woot and happy dance and all that crap. Since I have not gotten my judgement yet, I presume that they have not managed to figure this out as yet. When they can finally return my money, I will be happy to be done with them for good.

Of course, I just have to say: They could have avoided all the unpleasantness if they had simply had a meeting, and allowed me to speak-I would have quietly and nicely asked for a return, since I was booted the same day I joined.

Other old business arose last week on Facebook too. Good lord, what a cesspool that place can be-but thankfully, FB provides tools to make life smoother and less stressful. Last week I got a notice from a friend, that said that there was an ad on Craigslist for my horse. Um, what? I checked, and sure enough, there is an ad for the mare that I had leased out to a "friend" and the friends' daughter. I posted a notice that the lessee did not have permission to sell the mare, and then put the two notices up on my wall on FB.

Oh. My. God. 120 heated posts later, here is the result: The daughter has a formal bill of sale. I've blocked them both from my FB experience due to the nature of their comments and one creditable threat I got via PM. And I'm done with the scheming and conniving and gossiping that surround this woman. It took this to have me step back and really think about all I'd heard about the horse community.....easily 90 percent of the negative things I'd heard, originated from this one person.....90 percent! And of course you know she is the "go to" gal when you want or need something from the horse community here.....yikes! All of that negativity was carefully couched in psychobabble worthy of the best talk show circuit hacks-no kidding. So all the financial troubles, bad horse deals, marital problems, drug use, criminal history and so on, that I heard....well, I am happy not to be burdened with it any longer.

And of course, this caused a few people to venture out of the wood work too, and tell me a few of the rumors going around about me. And my horse. And my marriage. And so on. Oh. My. God. She'd probably pop an aneurysm if she realized that she is no better than one other notable she detests. So here is the stupid part: It could have been avoided. All they needed to do was take it to PM or email. Just that easy. And no I won't remove it from my wall, because if people really want to look they can find out just how nasty they both are....it's all there in print. And not only that, they had the use of the horse for two years. Neither one ever asked for a bill of sale. Which I find absolutely hilarious in the context of her self described "expert witness" for the courts....surely she, with her many hundreds of horse sales and deals, would know the consequences of selling something you don't own?

So, we had our first "big snow". Which amounted to nearly a foot at home, and about seven inches at work. I discovered that the guy plowing last year, decided not to do it this year-but did find another company on short notice. They did an excellent job and I'm happy to have that resolved for the season. Work continues on the building next door, which is much larger than my work shop. Now, we can't be seen from the intersection, darn it. I have no idea how all the additional traffic is going to work out-it's a gymnastics place.

Also over the past two weeks, we welcomed a new addition to the family-Zayden, born to my niece Amber and her hub Chris. Congrats you two! And now I am wondering if our family is ever going to have any girls, lol There's my Joey, then Noah and Corbin, and then Landon and Zayden. I am thinking Amber and Chris will have one more, so we might be lucky there. My nephew Rick has a boy as well, isn't that odd?

The AGA is off and running!

2011-10-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to share that the Alaska Goat Association is fully functioning :)

As of this morning, there are over 35 members. I am pretty sure that number is larger than any other functioning goat club in the state, by far. People are still coming on board, even if they don't quite "get it" as to its "organization".

I got a call about this just the other day, and so help clarify matters, here is a "no particular order" explanation of the Association.

There are no officers.

No formal voting, or balloting.

No "regularly scheduled meetings" at a physical location.

There is no board.

No one person is in charge of anything.

Now that seems pretty simple to me, but some people are having difficulty wrapping their minds around what this concept really means in practice. In most clubs and organizations, officer positions tend to garner people with time, energy, and a desire for power to some degree.

In reality, the positions saddle one person with specific duties for the term of their office, and many times they burn out or are unable to complete their terms. Just take a good look at what has happened in the other goat clubs in the state, and you will see that the same people tend to hold the same offices, year after year. Some of those offices are abused, and occasionally those offices are essentially abandoned with lost documents or accounting. In this Association, any one person can go forward with whatever project gets the collective, majority vote. No running the idea through committees, no waiting two or three months (or longer) to get things on an agenda, discussed, voted, and approved. Just bring your idea to the group Facebook page, pitch it, and see what people have to say. You can start a poll, ask questions through the Yahoo! group, or simply call people-whatever works. If you have an idea you think is of value to the goat community-it's yours to head up and make happen. Recruit whoever you think you need, and run with it. Now, that's pretty simple, isn't it?

There is no "application", so there is no "application process". You pay your membership fee, and you are a member. Period. You are not required to furnish anything other than some means to contact you. What you chose to share is up to you-as little or as much as fits your comfort level. No vetting, no discrimination, none of that. You pay, you are in and you have a voice-just like everyone else.

Any issue raised and discussed is a "meeting". Members meet every day on Facebook, through email, and the Yahoo! group. If members don't want to participate to that degree, that's just fine with the rest of us.When members have discussions on the Facebook group page, or converse via email or the Yahoo group, they are voting when they make their opinions known. As the Association grows, it will probably need to get a little more "formal" for these things, by using polls or other means to determine the majority opinion.

Since we are spread all over the state (and we have members in other states, too), conducting "formal meetings" where everyone can participate is impractical at best. Thus, the reliance on the tools of modern communications: Email, Facebook, the Yahoo! group, conference calls, and hopefully a new website soon. A bank was chosen that has offices in many locations, and PayPal is the vehicle for most transactions. It is imperative that people understand that this Association is open and accountable to ALL its members. This means, publishing banking activity, memberships, and any activity the members propose to undertake. Everyone has the opportunity to see what is happening with their Association at any time. No guessing what's in the bank account, no wondering when meetings might occur, no bickering behind the scenes masquerading as personality conflicts.

The call that prompted this entry, raised legitimate questions about the Association's relationship with the state. In truth, we chose the simplest one available-cited here as written:

Article 1: The name of the corporation is: Alaska Goat Association
Article 2: The duration is perpetual
Article 3: The purpose is "to promote goats and goat products in Alaska"
Article 4: Distribution of assets upon liquidation: Upon dissolution, the assets get distributed equally among members.

The above is satisfactory for the State of Alaska. They may ask for further information (i.e., formal ByLaws) but this can be easily addressed, if the need arises. The articles can be changed as well, with a simple letter informing the state of the changes.

Yes, indeed...the whole idea is simple, user friendly, open and transparent. I kind of like it, don't you?

The Alaska Goat Association

2011-10-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

The Alaska Goat Association was created this week.

I suppose you could say it was due in part to the beyond shabby treatment that the Alaska Mini Goat Cache has given former members, the distrust and anguish it has fomented upon the goat community, and selective use of their offices and by-laws to alienate just about everyone. It seems evident that people here want a club, but they don't want anything to do with the MGC shenanigans, or Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher as Treasurer and President, or both. But still people want to participate, to join together and enjoy and promote their interest in all things relating to goats.

The solution was brainstormed on Facebook, and arose immediately from discussions on several pages. In two days, the corporation was founded, a bank account established, the EIN (required by the IRS) procured, and a "structure" created. Today, the process will be furthered by application for formal non profit status.

Above all, this will be a transparent and open organization.

There are no officers.

Nope, no board, no formal positions of president, vice president, secretary or treasurer. No position for webmaster, newsletter, fundraising or any of that stuff. Instead, this is majority rule. No balloting, but everyone has a voice. Some people will see this as anarchy, chaos and/or mob rule. In practise, it is not. Civil discussion and consensus are amazingly easy to accomplish, if you are willing to let it happen. Every activity with the bank account is publicized, as is every member as they join.

There is already a slate of events started, with people stepping up to organize these individually. They include shows and clinics and seminars. Since this is a state wide effort, there will be events on the Kenai (an area sadly overlooked) and hopefully the Interior as well as it gains momentum. It is open to anyone who chooses to join-no discrimination at Alaska Goat Association! No "application process", no expulsions, none of that crap. You want to join, you pay your dues, you are in. How much you get out of it, is up to YOU. Memberships run the calendar year, but anyone joining this fall, is good for the next year too.

Here's how you can see what's going on, and join in making the Association what YOU want it to be:

On Facebook, find Alaska Goat Talk, and join. Ask there to be invited to Alaska Goat Association-there is already a discussion thread if you can find it. We won't add you to the group page unless you want to be included! Once you are there, the information about joining is available. Pay your dues, and add your name and number to the list.....and that's it! No showing up at irregularly scheduled meetings, no fumbling around trying to find information....just join, and you're in!

You can also join the Yahoo! Group "AlaskaGoatAssociation", established as an alternate to Facebook as some people are not comfortable with social media.

And, you can contact myself, or others, about how to join without having an online presence.

Electronic participation is being worked out, but already includes the Facebook page, the Yahoo! group, and PayPal.

I'd say that's a start, wouldn't you?

Victory is mine

2011-10-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I appeared in court for my case against the Alaska Mini Goat Cache. Upon arrival, we all sat through a another case, and then were sworn in and began. I was pretty nervous as I had never done that before, and bobbled my opening remarks to start. However, I was able to plainly state the sequence of events to the judge:

I joined and was expelled the same day.
The following day I got my money back through PayPal, and got an email from the President telling me I'd been expelled for cause.
I attended the membership meeting in January, resubmitted my fees and application.
They were accepted by the President (and yes, the Treasurer was present)
The Treasurer never attended any other meetings after that.
In June, the small claims case against the Treasurer was held, the results were:
That Heather Fair was the treasurer
That the election process they had started prior was valid
That the election results were valid with Heather Fair being Treasurer again
That the actions taken by the board in the expulsions were valid.

So, since I was expelled (and was not a member, and could not be a member, and could not reapply for two years) I asked for my money back. A total of five times, via email. I probably was not as polite as I could have been, but truthfully, I was disgusted with the entire club. I addressed all the emails to the President, Rayna Fritcher. She eventually came back with a "write a letter and we'll consider it" response. By that time, the club had held onto my money for nearly eight months, and done nothing to rectify the situation. Of note: The issue of returning money to expelled people are not addressed in their bylaws at all. Their language only applies to people already members. So, when Rayna quoted "members/membership applicants" she was not being accurate. And I'll just point out this, which is aggravating: Their own bylaws say that when you pay your dues, you are a member. Period. They do not say "after processing" which is what Heather Fair used as part of her defence.

They have had held no meetings since January. If they had held a meeting, I would have asked to be on the agenda, and then politely asked for my money back. I knew the club should work within the framework of their own bylaws (and they have, to some degree) and I felt that attending a meeting was the best course for resolution. Instead, their board voted back in April to not accept the minutes of the January meeting. I only found this tidbit in reading through the response to my suit, as it happens.

The judge did not want to get into the two factions of the club, since it did not apply to my case. This did not prevent Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher from making inflammatory statements about the activities of the other faction, the trouble surrounding the club bank account, and my participation with the other faction. I very wisely did not take the bait because it was not germane to the suit.

The judge found my small claims suit valid, and the club is to return my funds.

I was not awarded expenses because I did not write that letter that Rayna demanded. I find this highly ironic because Heather Fair stated repeatedly that the corporation was unable to function due to not having a checking account. The reason they gave for not giving it back was not having a checking account. Their bylaws state that refunds and expenses must be done by check. A bald faced lie I did not correct. I know that the club has an account with $25 in it, at MVFCU. They also have the $290 in cash collected at the January meeting, as well as the $400 in the PayPal account. They could, at any time, deposit the $290 and transfer a portion of the PayPal account, if they chose to do so. Then it would be a simple matter to get counter checks and take care of business.

But no, instead they call into question the honesty of the bank (the bank itself, no less!), and have done nothing.

I presume this fits into their agenda, since if they "don't have a checking account" they can continue to claim that money has been "stolen". Which, by the way, they have done online already.

The other side of that is, of course, that the club has knowingly retained funds for nearly ten months.

That would be all the money collected at the January meeting, from over a dozen people who had submitted applications. Now, just who is "perpetrating a theft" here, eh?

Harvest about complete

2011-09-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a jam packed few weeks around the farm. It seems like there is never enough hours or energy in the days, but somehow I'm managing to get quite a bit done. First, the greenhouse is stripped. What a chore! I always forget that it's nearly as much work to empty it, as it is to fill and plant all those pots! But I had a bounty of peppers, which we enjoyed very much on the grill. The melons were gobbled up by all, and I have vowed to start them earlier next spring. I had enough cucumbers hidden in the foliage to make one small batch of pickles, after all the fresh eating we enjoyed-a nice surprise. The sweet corn had a few slightly unripe ears but was heavenly grilled in the husk. Several batches of zucchini relish were processed and I have three glass gallon jars of sauerkrout going in a cool dark spot in the garage.

Yesterday, the meat birds were processed at last. They came in at between 5 to nearly 8 pounds, very large birds! They are brining right now and will surely be a tasty meal over the winter. I learned a couple little tricks about how to properly bleed them out, and what some of the interior parts are. Previously, I have only done the "dirty work" so this was a great learning experience. My sis's good friend, Maria, was happy to take organs, heads, neck and feet. In her culture, nothing is wasted and that works for me.

Also this month, the abundant celery was processed-this time, into jars for winter use. My wonderful sister in law has been very enthusiastic about helping, and in return, I teach her about proper preparation and processing. It's a win win for both of us, I like to think. And it's been really nice to have company as the canners are monitored too. When it came time to butcher the moose the family had been blessed with, we all dashed over and worked to "get 'er done". Oh my, it was a lot! A 53 inch bull and a spike fork. I have the neck sections and am in the process of making moose stew to can in the next day or so. This year, I can add celery, potatoes, carrots and onions from my own garden-I'm very proud of that.

We were able to secure a large load of logs for firewood, so that worry has been laid to rest. With that, and what is already split and stacked under the wood shed, we're in fairly good shape for firewood. I have been enjoying the wood stove for almost three weeks now, and loving it. As the leaves continue to fall, we are on the last bit of "clean up before winter" outside stuff, with some work remaining at the barn. I also managed to find two more Orpington pullets, and they have settled in very well. This brings my total back up to eight-which is what I had last winter. My old Yokohama rooster finally passed away a couple weeks back, but his replacement (A buff Orpington) is maturing and has already been successfully fertilizing eggs. Just this weekend I found my first ever "bullseye" plain as day, on the yolk. This means I could have chicks this coming spring, yippee!

Also in the bird department, my four turkey chicks are a hoot! So aware, so curious, and friendly too. They are gaining some color now, and I think I have two toms and two hens. They will not reach the size of the broad breasted whites I have in with the layers, but that works for me-those two are getting pretty danged big! So big, in fact, that I was worried about finding a pot big enough to scald them in, haha

So that's what is happening around the home place. I have the stew to process, and spuds, and that will be it for canning this year.....whew!

September already!

2011-09-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy and productive couple of weeks here at the homestead. I say that with a sardonic tone, because we surely are not a homestead in the "pioneer" sense of the word, but then we sure aren't living on a city lot in Anchortown, either.

The garden was bountiful, considering the weather challenges this summer. A few things did not fare well and these are due to my own oversights-sweet corn and pumpkin. I have a great many green beans that await picking, plus many large onions (onions! Never been able to grow them before, yippee!) whose tops will end up dried, and a generous quantity of broccoli and cauliflower are already safely tucked into the freezer. A couple weeks ago I processed a fairly amount of berries from the freezer, in a lame attempt to make space. As it is, I still have plenty on the bushes that need to be harvested, not to mention jam and syrup jars tucked away. We are blessed with these berries so I won't complain about number, since some people were not so lucky this year. Several batches of zucchini relish are done, and I have the celery processed too-dried leaf for cooking, plus nearly a dozen pint jars in the pantry. Next up is finding the proper vessel to start a batch of sauerkraut....then, I have the beans, peas, brussel sprouts, spuds, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and my little melons to harvest. Yes, melons! They are not much large than fist sized but I have been trying to grow these for years-first year of success and I can't wait to try them!

Up at the barn, the meat birds are way beyond processing size. Lost one of them yesterday for unknown reasons, which does happen occasionally. So that leaves ten very hefty birds to deal with in the next week or so. No sure what they will dress out at, but I am thinking in the 6 to 7 pound range. In the pen with them, are my four baby turkey chicks. Gosh those buggers are cute! So attentive and responsive to my voice, so unlike chickens. They are starting to get their color now, so look rather speckled. I can't tell yet how many hens, or toms, that will have to wait until they are older. These are a heritage type that breed true, called Sweetgrass. A very pretty bird that are cold hardy, and do not mature as large as the broad breasted whites that are more common for holiday meals. I have two of those also-a hen and a tom as it turns out. He has matured enough to begin courting, and she is old enough to rebuff his advances. Makes for some fairly comical moments ;) Thanksgiving and Christmas are their names, naturally...and they are going to be very sizeable birds in another month or two. Naturally, it did not dawn on me that I do not own a pot large enough to scald them in until yesterday, haha! Not sure what I am going to do about that-dry pluck? Haul them some place else? The new rooster I got a few months back seems to have settled in, but one of the hens does not care for him, so he is pretty much a bachelor outcast at the moment. I have not heard any crowing from him either. Speaking of which, the older Yokohama roo has lost his voice, and is not doing well. The pair of them need to go to another pet home, or someone's stew pot. Very small birds, but likeable enough.

So we are rolling on into winter mode......animals good overall, halfway done with the garden, and quite a bit of firewood already stacked away for the colder months. I have some feed and hay to lay in over the next month or so, and then let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

As the milk turns...........

2011-08-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

......and turns and churns and spins and on it goes, and where it stops-nobody knows.

You didn't really think it was over, did you?

I didn't, I know my adversary oh too well for that. And recent events have proven this truth-that All That is a dogged, likely deranged, despot who will do anything to have her way.

I last left it with the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, via email, that I wanted my money back. The new Prez (Rayna Fritcher) trotted out the party line as supplied by All That: Write a detailed statement as to why you deserve your money back and mail to blah blah blah,a nd then we might give it back blah blah blah. Their own bylaws and statements Pres. Fritcher made do not, of course, cover those people they expelled.

Nope, no sirree, if they refund my money they essentially admit I was a member, lol I can't be a "membership applicant" either because the judge said that the previous expulsions would stand-according to their "conditions", I have to wait two years to reapply. By squatting on my cash, they have effectively.....well, stolen it. I mean, they won't return it and they've tied themselves neatly in knots by their own admissions and statements to the court and the public.

So while all this percolated away in the background going no where, another matter arose regarding All That. It seems that her desire for vengeance continues unabated, and now includes the DHI program. This is taking matters to a new low, indeed. Naturally, the complaint was easily dealt with as it was bogus in the first place, and I may need to eventually describe in excruciating detail the single time I attempted to perform a milk test for All That. I am so thankful for a near photographic memory, really I am, because if necessary...I can go there too.

All That again showed her true nature just recently to the new president too-who continues to deny being manipulated and used. Oh dear, none so blind as those that refuse to see, yes? I can't share the details but I assure the readers that it does involve the club and does prove that All That is whacked indeed.

So whacked, in fact, that I filed a small claims suit to get my money back. Yes indeed, I did, on August 5th.....feel free to check CourtView for the activity so far if you choose. Trust that I was thorough in my complaint-it contained only the relevant documents that All That so kindly supplied to the court for the other case as emails between Rayna Fritcher and I regarding returning my cash. I am positive that I will prevail, and this misadventure will cost the club over $100....and likely set the precedent for others to follow. Keep in mind that there are nearly a dozen other people whose money they have taken, but not accepted as members, nor refunded. And there are three other people who they expelled and did not return their money.

Maybe I will just contact the Division of Corporations about their misbehavior to date, and the BBB and whoever else....like, you know-the Human Rights Commission-for their blatant in-your-face discrimination?

It depends on their response to the court ;)

Alaska's Food Security risks, cont'd

2011-08-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

In addition to the earthquake and tsunami risk, there are a number of risks that can be identified rather easily. Some will seem to be of the "never going to happen", to "Yes, that's a possibility I didn't know before".

Starting outward and working in, I will first mention a not commonly known situation that is facing our solar system. Recently discovered by a NASA mission called IBEX, it is called "The Fluffy Ribbon" by laypersons. The entire solar system is moving into a dense cloud of magnetic energy, many thousands of light years across. Some suspect that this is what is responsible for the increasing temperatures on our neighboring planets. But what is most concerning to me, is the statement by the bestest and brightest that NASA has, that they basically had no idea this existed and that the information gleaned from these probes is going to rewrite a whole bunch of scientific laws. Yeah, that's comforting, isn't it?

Now, whether or not or how much this is going to affect conditions on good old Earth, I have no idea-but one thing IS certain...it will bring changes. Here is a link to a video presentation from NASA on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTnwjd8CF1c&feature=player_embedded

There is much more information available online about this subject, a simple search of "The Magnetic Fluffy Ribbon" should bring scads of results. I personally prefer going to SickScent's blog since he has gathered together much of the information there already. (Link here on this blog) There are several things to take away from this: First, that our best scientists have no idea what it all means. And secondly, that changes are occurring in our solar system because of it.

Moving further inward from the edge of the heliosphere, I'll just remind folks that there are a number of "near miss" comets and asteroids coming up. Some of them are within a couple hundred thousand miles of earth-a whisker away, really. Hopefully the resources devoted to NEO (Near Earth Objects) will be able to see, identify, and track orbits quickly-but of course there is nothing we can do to prevent a sizable impact. All the movies aside, we do not have the technology to avert catastrophe and certainly don't have the resolve to make concrete plans to do so either.

Of the threats of immediate concern to our planet, I believe that the Sun presents the largest risk. Since I cannot know just what the eventual effects of the Fluffy Ribbon might be over the coming centuries, or a "Deep Impact" (the movie) type of event, I can face the challenges of the sun's activity with some confidence.

The primary risk originates from sunspot activity. Instead of attempting to teach everyone about how the sun works and what energies it emits every second, I will focus on the main risk-CME from solar flare. CME stands for Coronal Mass Ejection. They are generally comprised of dense particles and hurled off the surface of the sun into space, and can (and have) caused major effects on our Mother Earth. Here is a link to a description of one such event in our past:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859 (I don't generally use Wiki as a source, but in this case, the information is reliable)

In 1989, a similar, although much smaller solar storm, caused a power outage in Quebec that lasted for nine hours and affected millions of people. The thing to take away from both of these reports is that sunspots can give birth to coronal mass ejections, and these CME can cause EMPs. EMP stands for Electro/Magnetic/Pulse. So much energy assaults our planet that it penetrates our own magnetic field, and "goes to ground", using any means necessary. In 1859, that was telegraph wires...in 1989, it was the grid itself. 20 years later and the world is a very connected place today.....a large enough storm would pretty much fry everything electrical.

Now just think about what would happen should an EMP wipe out the electrical grid. Not just our grid here in Alaska (where we are much closer to possible effects-aurora borealis is a visible signature of these storms) but across the US. In the blink of an eye (less, actually!) the main US grid is down. So are all forms of communication, because the satellites will be casualties also. Computers, vehicles, equipment of all kinds will cease to function-anything with a modern chip, in fact. And not just the chips, it would fry all those many millions of small transformers, not to mention the large ones.....well, the end result would be this:

Alaska would be stranded well and good, for months if not years.

Years. Very troubling thought, isn't it? How many pounds of seed do you think is inside the state borders right now? How much in the way of planting supplies? Means to preserve the foods grown from them? How could it be distributed without modern transportation? Not to mention started, planted, watered, fertilized and harvested? If the thought gives you the willies, it should. There is an excellent book out by a gentleman called William Forstchen, called "One Second After" Here is a link to the Amazon listing:

http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-William-Forstchen/dp/0765356864/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313174057&sr=1-1

A novel, but the author addresses many of the problems modern society might face in such an event. Naturally, there are many such works of fiction available today, in the genre...but it isn't just the gifted writer who considers this to be a huge threat-NASA does as well......

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/22jun_swef2011/

And with that I will close by saying-please let's discuss what these threats to our security (our survival here, actually) mean, and what we might do to mitigate those risks a little. Naturally, I have a few ideas about that :)

Second entry, Alaska's Food Security Risks

2011-07-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to attempt to explain some of the risks Alaska residents face every day, and how they relate to our food security here.

First, it helps to know that the amount of food produced is generally accepted to be less than 5% of what is consumed annually. In other words, 95% of the foods you eat here, are barged, trucked, or flown many thousands of miles. Yes, I know you all know that....but I don't think most think through the risks.

As a kid growing up here in the 60s, we lived at Usibelli Coal Mine. Amazing place to be a kid, and then some. We weren't exactly Bush living (we had power and running water and were on the road system-but close to it) but we were literally at "the end of the road". At that time, the Parks Highway ended at Hurricane Gulch with a stub of concrete and steel hanging over the cliff face there. It was usually about five hours to drive to Fairbanks, depending on the condition of the gravel road, and my folks did this about every three or four months for groceries. There was pavement at College and Mom used to treat the first of the kids to call it. I have no firm memories of the Good Friday Quake in 1964, but do remember being dumbfounded at the water marks in downtown Fairbanks after the '67 flood. My point in bringing us bit of recollection forward, is that disasters happened in the past (and will happen in the future) and while the '67 flood might have been awful for Fairbanks area residents, we weathered it with ease. Why? Because my family (and indeed, everyone at the mine) generally had four to six months' worth of groceries on hand. It was prudent and all the grocery stores held large amounts of inventory as normal business. During those years, it was not uncommon to visit a grocery store and see many feet of empty shelves....the reason? Barges lost at sea.

Fast forward 50 years, and we have an entirely different business model. Today, to shave costs, most grocery retailers employ a version of "just in time" supply. This model was made famous and used to astonishing success with WalMart, for example. That is, there is typically scant inventory beyond what you see on the shelves. Ever notice the containers on trailers around the back of these stores? They come and go constantly, year round. This makes for a very shaky, very long supply chain to Alaska.

Our foods mostly originate on the West Coast, where consolidators of various types arrange the container loads which are then loaded onto the barge and thence shipped into the Port of Anchorage. There, it is offloaded, and then trucked to the store. At any time, a link in this chain could break....and maybe in a big way. It has been stated to me by a local official, that Alaska is five days away from anarchy at any given time. Because Alaska has just five days worth of food on hand. Imagine another Good Friday Earthquake....and what it would mean in terms of feeding the population. Today we have a huge amount of infrastructure which would be damaged by a quake of that magnitude. We could lose the port entirely, the airport, and the highways when bridges suffer catastrophic failure. That will mean loss of transportation networks, utilities, and of course.....a busted supply chain.

Imagine no natural gas for heat or power generation. No gasoline or diesel fuel for the same reason. And most importantly, no inventory arriving to replenish the grocery and bulk stores. Now, many "old time" Alaskans are an independent bunch and most will have some food stashed away, because, well.....disasters happen. I'd venture to guess that the urban resident is not so well supplied, but it's likely better in outlying areas where "trips to town" are a bit of a drive. We'll leave the hair raising implications of a lack of medical supplies completely out of this scenario because it's too alarming.

So, one big earthquake up here, and we could lose all transportation methods in a matter of a minute or two. This is a true risk, and one that local, state and the federal government is, of course, planning to handle. There exists a myriad of agencies, bureaus, commissions, and private interests who are working on developing plans to deal with such an event. But a truly effective plan is only as workable as the circumstances allow, and those plans will only function if enough infrastructure, communications, supplies and equipment, and people remain. For all their planning and exercises, I would not expect a cohesive and speedy response to a major earthquake.

Another likely scenario is also seismic. There exists off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and northern California, a geological feature called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. It too, is due for a large event and could happen at any time. Located off shore, you can think of it as a small piece of the Pacific plate that is being pushed under the continent, if that helps. Prior events from this fault have caused massive tsunami and landslides, obliterating the coastlines in some areas. Of course, it goes without saying that the entire western coast line of the United States is at risk at every moment. Since the majority of goods are shipped from the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Portland) we are again reminded of the fragile supply chain.

Naturally, the risks presented by earthquake activity do not end there. One super sized event anywhere around the Pacific Rim, and we could (and will at some point) experience tsunami. We've all seen the videos of the destruction left by the 2004 tsunami that took over 200,000 lives in Indonesia, and more recently the Japan event earlier this year. It's an unnerving thought, to imagine something of that magnitude striking a US city. And in the scale of tsunami's, neither of those were very large-even more unsettling. Whether the eventual tsunami hits San Diego, or Portland, or the coast of Washington, or even here in Southcentral, the end results could be catastrophic for Alaska's people.

Snap one link in our very shaky, very long supply chain, and it'll be ugly.

Alaska's Food Security Problem

2011-07-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

This entry has been a long time forming, and coming. Feel free to grab a libation, and (hopefully) learn a little something about agriculture and it's possible future in Alaska :)

Alaska is both blessed, and cursed. Situated so far from the rest of the union, we hold a unique place in future agricultural developments on several fronts. I'll list the curses first, of course, and they include a number of elements that combine to hamper our state's ability to feed its residents.....

Location, location, location. Yes, we have about 20 hours of sunlight during the growing season, but we also have 7 months of winter. This cannot be changed of course, but it could be lessened to a great degree.

State policy. The state has an absolutely dismal history of agriculture-aside from the original colonists in the 30s. The Delta barley and Pt MacKenzie projects were boondoggles that cost the state millions of dollars in the end-with little crop production to show for it. On paper, it looked pretty good: Grow the feed in Delta, ship down to the Valley where there would be dairy farms and so forth, sell the excess to Asia. Naturally none of this came to fruition because bureaucrats are NOT farmers or business people, and placed impossible terms and conditions on those courageous enough to try "farming in the last frontier". At this point, the state does not have a cohesive agricultural policy at all, and is awash in programs and agencies, partly federally funded and poorly managed or funded by the state itself.

High energy and production costs. While the state is required by its constitution to extract resources for the benefit of all the residents, it has never positively affected agriculture here to any lasting degree. In fact, current tax structure on the oil industry, combined with the looming Depression in the Lesser48, has caused fuel to sky rocket here. Because of declining supply in Cook Inlet, the Agrium plant on the Kenai Peninsula closed-it produced fertilizers for in state use, for example. Now, this must be barged up from the west coast.

Those are the three main contributors to the sorry state of Alaska ag in my opinion. There are many facets that effect the current conditions, and I will touch on them briefly later on.

The major blessings we have here are:

Location, location, location. Our lengthy summers allow local growers to produce an astonishing amount of food, compared to many places in the Lesser48 states. Years back, some farmers made a decent living providing produce to the military bases-until someone decided that there had to be x number of heads of lettuce in a case-never mind our Alaska giant vegetables. So pfft, no more selling to the bases. (No I am not kidding, this happened) Our location would also lend itself to entering the export market. Think of all the cargo containers that leave this state empty-and air cargo as well.

One of the most important things that Alaska could do, is to ban GMO seed stock. Thankfully, the current GMO commercially available seeds are corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and alfalfa. None of these crops do well here, but eventually the opportunity to let this monster loose within our state will occur-if the door is not shut right now. In other states, the modified plants have infected other farms, and this has caused much hardship (not to mention lawsuits the farmers face from the patent holders of those seeds) and it has been discovered that such seeds are a health risk.

Another important thing that Alaska could do, is take some of that hydrocarbon extraction for it's own use. Don't fall over in shock, it could actually be done if there were visionaries in Juneau. The state (us!) own a percentage of everything that comes up-and at this time we are tied into selling it at the market rate. As it stands now, all the revenue is stuffed into a nice fat purse that the legislature positively slobbers over to spend, spend, spend. I'd prefer they had a little less to get their mitts on, so that Alaska could feed Alaska. With a little creative accounting, a small portion (or maybe a lot, depending on what industries would provide the most jobs here) could literally be given to food producers. When you stop rolling your eyeballs at this idea, just think about how much food could be grown if energy costs were a fraction of what they are today.

Here are some ideas about growing more food:

We have millions of acres of unoccupied lands. I know most people think it is all muskeg and swamp and it's true there is a lot of that. But peaty soils can be worked successfully on a small scale (NOT monoculture farming, mind you) for example. Greenhouses using natural gas or even better-hydrothermal for heat and power generation, could be much more abundant.

We also have a growing population, many of which are adamant about eating locally, buying AlaskaGrown, and so forth. We have also seen an explosion in "alternate" growing methods over the past twenty years. Today, it is mainstream for aquaculture production to be employed. Older ideas of crop rotation, soil replenishment and augmentation without the use of chemicals is gaining acceptance rapidly...and there are a whole host of ways to enhance production, expand variety, and extend seasons. Some of these include simple solar greenhouses which tap the energy of the sun year round, all the way to the Chena Hot Springs Resort projects which include using the heat of the springs themselves to provide much of the produce the resort uses. There are growing numbers of cold frames and hoop houses all over-and many of them are used in CSA efforts. Someday, someone will design a vertical greenhouse that will be energy efficient here in Alaska....and new systems are tried, improved, and employed every couple of years.

In short, the future could be bright indeed. The question is, are there any visionaries that can help guide Alaska into an independent future?

Meanwhile..........

2011-07-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

As all this goat world stuff does not get resolved, the world continues it's journey around the sun, Alaska Mini Goat Cache proclaimed President Rayna Fritcher has done.........

......exactly nothing. If called on it, she is sure to say that any communication must be submitted in writing at the specified address, blah blah blah. I think I will file small claims tomorrow, just because no one else has the balls to do anything. Sometimes you just gotta make a point, you know? And if you can't figure out what that is, I can't help you because you are too far on the left side of the Bell curve, or a happy tool of Heather Fair, whichever.

Meanwhile, things are happening around the place. The garden has taken off, and I am pretty happy with how things look despite the late plant. I have zucchini all over, cabbages are trying to set heads, the brussel sprouts have tiny peas on them, and the broccoli is heading. It's time to tie up the sweet peas and hill the spuds. I have an embarrassing amount of swiss chard that looks gorgeous, plus many baby cucumbers in the greenhouse-and yes, we've snarfed up the big ones already, lol The salad bowls have been wonderful to have at hand and I will definitely repeat that next year. The corn is shorter than I would like but that's my own fault. I didn't think to get them off the cold ground until about a week ago. I have many green tomatoes, and hundreds of flowers so I am sure to end up with quite a haul over the next six or eight weeks.

We got the apple trees planted and while I was concerned about one of them for a while, it now seems that they will survive transplanting. All three have tiny itty bitty baby apples on them! I still haven't figured out where to plant the honey berries, or the thornless raspberry starts, or the strawberries.....but I'll come up with something I am sure. The three rhubarb have settled in happily and have many baby leaves too....although truthfully they are darned hard to kill anyway.

This week I am getting a new Orpington rooster, selling my Yokohamas, and getting in a dozen meat chicks. I may also be picking up some colored Orpingtons-they are in short supply so I can't be positive on being able to snag onto those chicks at the coming swap meet. I have to keep in mind the turkey chicks coming next month also, so I am about to be up to eyeballs in little cheepers :)

All in all, it's been a very productive few weeks!

180 calendar days....and counting

2011-07-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, readers....it has been 180 days since January 8th.

That's the day I submitted my application and money to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache club. The day I was accepted as a new member by the sitting President.

Does anyone think that this is a reasonable time frame for any organization to respond? Would you accept this from a company you tried to do business with? Of course not! You'd already have them in small claims court, right? Or at least reported them to the BBB. Or something. Right?

In light of this, a communication was shared with me. Please note the day that it was sent:
_______________________________

From: Meredith Wolpert
To: rainy4279@gmail.com
Sent: Fri, July 1, 2011 7:39:11 AM
Subject: AkMGC

July 1, 2011

Alaska Mini Goat Cache

C/O Rayna Fritcher

3060 N. Lazy Eight Ct. STE 2 PMB 103

Wasilla, Alaska 99654

Dear Rayna,

As you are aware, a group of AkMGC members passed a number of actions at the January 8, 2011 membership meeting which we continue to believe was within its membership rights and compliant with our club bylaws. These actions include rescinding an action by former Board officers to expel no less than five club members in late December 2010 without any appropriate due process or compliance with meeting requirements, and re-opening nominations for 2011 officer positions (an action that occurred before any prior election process had been concluded). As members, we have yet to receive a copy of the minutes from this meeting that your own website acknowledges as the last official club membership meeting, and your actions since the January meeting are in stark contrast with the actions taken at this meeting, solely for the purpose of choosing to accept the actions which are those to your own liking, not the will of the vast majority of members.

The Small Claims Court action brought by a collective group of 18 members was unsuccessful in obtaining a judgment against former Treasurer Heather Fair to turn over the club funds in her possession to what we believe to be the legitimate officers of the AkMGC based on due process and majority of member input. The basis of this decision was the Judge’s express statement to ignore State of Alaska statutory requirements related to non-profit clubs, and provisions of our own bylaws requiring Roberts Rule of Order be utilized in matters of parliamentary procedure. We believe strongly that were the collective group of 18 members to appeal the Small Claims Court’s judgment to Superior Court that the merits of our arguments would prevail given that the rule of law would actually be germane in Superior Court.

However, in an effort to move beyond this apparent impasse that our two groups have regarding the club’s practices, our group of 18 members is willing to turn over to you, as your group’s President, the club tent (which former President Laura Manary placed at the end of her driveway and told our membership group to come pick up), the key to the Club’s P.O. Box which was established after former President Manary resigned and after the February membership meeting ( a prudent step to establish a permanent mailing address for the club given the possibility of officers resigning and using their own personal mailing address for club business), the website domain name which was established due to the former Treasurer’s failure to turn it over to the officer’s that were elected at the February meeting, and the account number(s) at MVFCU where club funds which were taken into possession by the new officers elected at the February meeting now exist. It should be noted that the current account(s), plus the old account which is still active, contain a total of $1,042.08. The difference between this balance and the balance in the account at the time of signatory modification to the new officers is $195.92, which has been spent on appropriate and legitimate expenses (P.O. Box, Website Domain, Recorded Club Agent update with the State of Alaska, and election processes that were approved at the January membership meeting which you, Heather Fair, and Laura Manary fully participated in and acknowledged. Again, in our opinion, a full vetting of the facts at a Superior Court appeal will bear this out. Yet, for purposes of moving beyond our current dispute, we are willing to attempt to resolve our differences in an amicable manner as possible.

Regarding the club funds in accounts which now contain our officer’s signatory authority, with this letter, account numbers which we propose to give you, and the Small Claims Court written judgment (assuming it supports your group’s claim of officer legitimacy), you should be able to take control of the funds by having MVFCU accept changes to the authorized signatories.

In exchange for our group of 18 member’s transfer to you of the above stated club “assets”, we require the following:

Written statement, signed by you, as President of the AkMGC, which concludes the status of the 18 memberships which were presented to, and accepted by, former President Manary and turned over to former Treasurer Heather Fair at the January 8, 2011 membership meeting. Specifically, we demand that the club acknowledge each membership which was accepted at this meeting or provide specific reason and supporting documentation why the membership is not being accepted in accordance with club bylaws, and a pledge to return that member’s dues within 10 calendar days for those that you do not accept.

A commitment to appropriately notify all club members of all club meetings authorized by, and in accordance with, the club’s bylaws.

Return of complaint fees to the complainant filed at the January 8, 2011 meeting given that the current officers have failed to complete any complaint process – the reason cited by Ms. Fair being that you are not in possession of the actual complaint documentation filed.

A hold harmless acknowledgment and agreement not to take any further action, severally and/or individually, against all members which make up our group of 18 members and whose names were stated within the Small Claims Court documents.

For ease of moving this resolution process forward, your signature and date below, shall acknowledge your acceptance of these terms. Following receipt of your signature below, we will immediately give you the MVFCU club account numbers, and make arrangement with you to immediately turn over the above noted remaining club assets to you.

We believe these terms to be reasonable in light of our collective disagreements, and necessary and beneficial to move beyond our current impasse. If not acceptable to you then perhaps we’re left with continuing our dispute through a formal Superior Court appeal which would be both expensive to both our groups, and with an unknown outcome, arguably, for both.

Sincerely,

Dr. Meredith Wolpert, PD

President (“Group of 18 Members”)

______________________________________________

Rayna did indeed get this communication. She cannot deny getting it, and the signature is a legally valid one in whatever media it is contained. (Hey, just one of the perks of being a doctor, who knew?) So she had been properly noticed, although sure to deny that suits their suddenly painstaking processes.

I have no idea how long anyone plans to wait before they go forward, one way or the other.

However, this is my truth: They have had my money since January 8th. I could successfully argue that I have never been a member, thus could not be expelled. Therefore, they have stolen my money.

Yep.

Stolen it. Along with everyone else who has been a victim.

Oh and in case you are wondering...there are NO meetings scheduled on the club's official website either. Which means that any "meeting" that Rayna needs to conduct ANY club business, is not happening any time soon.

Tsk tsk tsk. That black eye is getting bigger by the day :)

It's confusing!

2011-07-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

So, I have been thinking about the court ruling for a couple weeks now. And I am still not sure what it means in practise, considering everything that has happened.

The court ruled:

Neither party recover from the other

Um....what? What does that mean, exactly? I don't think anyone truly knows, but evidently Heather Fair and crew feel that they are the legitimate club. Thus, Rayna Fritcher is now President, based upon the election results that the rest of the members and public never witnessed nor participated in.

I suppose I could spend the money and get the transcripts, or buy a copy of any explanation the judge included. But in truth, the issue is very muddy. If it is accepted as written-neither side gets any money from the other. Remember that this was a small claims suit-not civil court.

If the majority keeps the money, then it forces Heather Fair and crew to sue everyone individually for recovery. Very expensive proposition for a tiny club, suing over a dozen people. Otherwise they basically have to file suit on itself-which would obviously mean that the majority are all members.........

I am not in control of any funds and I am only one voice. But in my opinion there are a number of ways to handle this:

1. The Alaska Mini Goat Cache (minority) could welcome all the new members into the club. Yes, even including the non-members they expelled so judiciously on Dec. 27th of last year. Heck, they could even have a public notice of a meeting-woohoo!

2. The minority club could sue to get their money back. Big stinky problem with that is that there are more people involved than just the folks who were elected into office of the majority club. Lots of bucks at 40 bucks a pop!

3. The majority club could offer to return everything, no doubt under specific conditions.

4. The majority club could move forward, perhaps by voting to rename itself-allowing the minority club to die out on its own.

5. The individuals who don't want anything to do with this mess, could sue the minority club to get their money back. After all, they did perpetrate a fraud on the public by accepting membership dues under false pretences.

6. The majority club could return all fund minus the membership dues that the minority club has kept for almost seven months.

Or.......well who knows? I am sure there are other possible outcomes I have not mentioned here-I just listed the obvious ones.

Whatever happens, the Alaska Mini Goat Cache will never be the same. If the minority continue on as I expect, they have forever besmirched their club's reputation. The manipulation and misdeeds of the board and officers are now out in public-not hidden behind "secret meetings" that did not take place and voting that did not happen at publicly noticed meetings. If the minority club is not willing to allow public scrutiny, then they should accept the condemnation they deserve.

....and here we are-

2011-06-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

-nearly at the end of this particular chapter of the bizarrely fractured fairy tale of the Alaska goat community.

The five people expelled were not members, according to Heather Fair. The reason being-and one she testified to in court, as well as to the membership itself: There was no secretary at the time.

No secretary, no processing of memberships. She stated this numerous times, on tape. And in print. And in court.

So then how did we get expelled for cause, if we weren't even members?

And how did people get expelled that weren't even members? As in, the club had not receive their membership applications on the 27th. And what about the person who had their money returned, no explanation-and no letter about being expelled? Yet, subsequent email includes their names......because????

Well who knows!

It will be whatever they cooked up between January 8th and now.

Which leaves the very sticky issue of the other people who supplied completed membership application forms and cash at the January 8th meeting. What are they doing about that?

Don't forget, that's the meeting where Heather Fair has testified that the voting took place-but no one else witnessed it. Seriously. They had to have met in the parking lot, or left to go to some other place to count ballots-if they even did that legally. The board acted to rig the elections in the first place, by expelling people they didn't want involved in the club. Or at least that is a very logical conclusion, based on the events.

The $260 in cash submitted to, and accepted by then President Laura Manary (and acknowledged by both Laura and Heather Fair, by the way) has been held by Heather Fair since. She admitted she still had the money in court on June 15th.

Now, the club has listed a handful of new members once the club website was updated on June 16th. But they have not acted on all the applications-only a very few-evidently those who pass the sniff test for membership. Some may not even know that they are listed as current members, either. The reason I say that is because Heather Fair testified in court that just 7 ballots could be counted on January 8th at their mystery meeting that no one else knew about. Now they have 13 or 14 members on their website.

It could reasonably be argued that the club has *knowingly* defrauded us individually for the funds, since they have had nearly seven months to return it. They have not.

I could see where this could become a bit of a hot potato for the club itself....will they be drug back into small claims? Will someone contact the Better Business Bureau? The Human Rights Commission? No one is saying anything that I know about.

I did give the President a few days to get their poo in a pile and issue me a refund check.

In the meantime there is the very sticky matter of the judge's decision......who knows what is going to happen with that-but I plan on taking action to recover my dues regardless. The club may find itself so busy in court defending their actions, that they have no time to continue thrashing members of the community.

One can hope, anyway :)

How many times around that tree can we go?

2011-06-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

So, a few days back I sent my notification to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, as posted below.

Imagine my surprise when I received the following email:

Dear 2011 Member or Membership Applicants,

It has come to my attention many people have been posting on various
public forums, requests, demands, and notices for a return of their
money submitted to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache for 2011 membership.
Per Article 3 of the AkMGC bylaws, “any member in good standing may
resign from the Club upon written notice to the Secretary. The Club is
not obliged to refund any dues to the resigned member.” If you wish
to make a request for a refund, or a resignation of your membership,
please do so in writing with an original signature and effective date,
and mail it to the Club’s address. Please include a detailed written
explanation for the resignation and/or refund, so that I may pass it
on to the Secretary for presentation to the Board of Directors.
Please understand that the Board of Directors have lives outside their
Board positions and will review any resignations or requests as soon
as reasonably possible.

The Club’s address is:

3060 N. Lazy Eight Ct.
Suite 2, PMB 103
Wasilla, AK 99654

Thank You,

Rayna Fritcher
2011 AkMGC President

A very curious fact is who the email is addressed to: Rachel Peterson, myself, Margie Buckwalter, Tina Judd, Mike Pendergrast and Lisa Stevenson.

Crud, they can't even get their numbers right, lol!! In the case of myself and the other four people expelled, we are neither members, nor applicants. We are just members of the public, and this pitiful excuse of a club has squatted on our money for nearly seven months. I responded:

Rayna, I find your email rather puzzling, on several fronts.

Primarily your plea for more time to address the question is most confusing. The club had no troubles with rapidly expelling me on December 27th, just hours after I paid my dues on line:

“I hereby lodge formal complaint against the following parties for violations of the AKMGC's objectives, purpose and bylaws: Suzanne Nevada, Lisa Stevenson, Margie Buchwalter, Tiani Heider, and Rachel Hecker-Peterson. Ten dollars times 5 complaint fee equals fifty dollars deposited pending swift review, response and action Signed Heather Fair. 12-27-2010”

Surely you are not suggesting that the club is entitled to keep my money for the over six months it already has? Since the club has accepted new members since January, according to testimony from Heather Fair, then it was certainly capable of refunds at any date since then. Additionally, you have had our money, complete with addresses since January 8th, so there is no excuses about contacting us individually either. Or are you saying the club is happy to keep our money, but keep us out?

If you (the club) can act within hours to expel people who are not even members, then you can refund the money within a day or so. You either step up to the plate and return the monies you are keeping for whatever leverage you think it gains, or you face the consequences. No excuses.

To which I received this response:

Considering that 2/3 of the 2011 AkMGC Board of Directors is different
from the 2010 AkMGC Board of Directors, I feel my request is reasonable
and polite.

If you wish to receive a refund for money you submitted for 2011 AkMGC
membership to the 2010 AkMGC Board of Directors, please follow the
instructions in my original e-mail.

Thank you,

Rayna Fritcher
2011 President

It took Rayna two days to come up with this response, which I find laughable at best. The SINGLE difference between the two boards is ONE PERSON. OMG, they sure feel we are stupid, don't they?

Shame on you, Madame President. Just shame on you. I saw your face in court when it seemed that your statement about the "no meeting" that took place on December 27th statement that you made to the membership might be read into the record and accepted by the judge. Panic much, there? The deer in the headlights expression on your face sealed any remaining doubts I might have had about your complicity to dupe the public. Heather then promptly stated for the record that she had the minutes of that meeting-right at hand. Not supplied in her response to the court, naturally. Naturally.

I am not as stupid as Heather Fair would have you believe, Madame President. You have been tooled, but good, and now you are as guilty as she.

What you did (deduced from logic) was this:

You had all forgotten that applications accepted through the website and PayPal were automatically members-according to your own bylaws.

When a bunch of us joined on the 27th, you held an "executive meeting" of the board to cope with it. Totally throwing out state law (and bylaws, and RRoO) which say that board meetings are only advisory in nature...and that ALL meetings must be noticed for any business to be conducted. But what the heck, Heather Fair did it anyway, and convened the meeting-remember, she stated in court she had the minutes and that the decisions for expulsions were unanimous-crafted the response and booted out the five people she felt most threatened by.

Now Heather was forced to argue two points about membership....first, by stating over and over again (at the Jan 8th membership meeting and on the clubs' Yahoo group) no new memberships could be "processed" because she was not the secretary. Period. And then by arguing that the action to expel the new members was also valid. OMG.....how ironic!

If there was no mechanism to accept new members at all until the results of the January 8th meeting and balloting took place (which evidently occurred in the parking lot of the Windbreak Cafe after the regularly noticed time) then your idiotic expulsions are worthless. They mean nothing since the people expelled were never members.

Seriously, you guys need to get your story straight.

What has happened in practise, is that the club has held onto my money under false pretences.

You have defrauded me of my funds.

And you plead with me to wait? Because your club officers "have a life"?

Best laugh I have had in a long time, Rayna. The only life that little fiefdom of yours is going have, is whatever Heather Fair manipulates you into having, lol

Six ways from Sunday.....or, on it goes!

2011-06-20T12:08:00.001-07:00

We'll have to revisit the time line, one more time.....old territory, but worth repeating because recent events have left the author confuzzled.

So on December 27th, I joined the Alaska Mini Goat Cache via the web. On the 28th, late in the evening, I got the email from the President that I had been expelled for cause, and they will refund my money. On December 30th (just a couple days later) the President stated publicly that

Quote:
"just so everyone knows there was no secret meeting wthout telling the memebers. No calling to order, no minutes and no report of officers."

EndQuote This was sent to the club's Yahoo membership. And was followed by a message from Rayna Fritcher

Quote:

"I will voice this here and at the meeting: If nothing was called to order and there was no meeting or minutes, then anything voted on at this informal and unannounced gathering is not valid.

Rayna
EndQuote

On January 8th Heather Fair recited the complaint(s) as I previously mentioned. At the time, the relevance of the date escaped my attention, unfortunately. However, in the response to the SCC suit filed, Heather Fair supplied 109 pages (One hundred and nine freaking pages! OMG, and it included over 60 pages of internet postings which had no relevance to the suit, lol) which included the by laws and.....copies of signed statements concerning the complaints. The pages are not dated, and include the signatures of Laura Manary and Rayna Fritcher. Both of whom said that no such meeting took place, mind you. And contrary to then President Manary's claims above, Heather Fair did state under oath on June 15th that she "had the minutes" to that meeting.

So you see that there is rather something strange going on here.....they cannot seem to keep their untruths straight, and what they supplied to the court does not match what they told the membership. Leaving the door wide open for the following speculations here.......

Because here is how it looks on the outside:

The club expelled five people they had personal beefs with. They essentially covered this up by repeatedly stating that new memberships could not "be processed". By dumping the five, and not "accepting" other memberships, they closed their "elections" to anyone not already a member on December 27th. Never mind what the President did in welcoming the "new members" and never mind the bylaws that says a member can vote-with no qualifications as to "processing" or anything else.

In short, they rigged the election.

Now, let's talk about that election. Heather Fair has been adamant that they took place "at the January meeting". Since I was present personally I can tell you that the membership voted to vacate the election process and start over. There were NO VOTES CAST OR TALLIED. Period, end of story, and that is on a number of audio recordings.

However, Heather asserted in court that an election did in fact took place. That nine ballots were cast, and two of which they discarded for various reasons-leaving 7 votes eligible. And that, as of June 15th, the club had 13 members.

So the folks who submitted joined on January 8th? No votes, and not members either. Recall that Heather Fair has repeatedly said that there is no secretary to "process" members. And that there had been no one in the Secretary position since the previous summer. (Yeah, I know, never mind what the previous President said, and the club's bylaws, lol)

Now here we are in June, and they somehow managed to "process" six new members. Despite not having elections. Or a secretary. Or meetings. Oh wait, they did have a meeting-one sometime after 4 pm on December 27th which the president denied. And one on or about the 28th of April of this year-according to testimony. And apparently, maybe one on January 8th where the voting was tallied-presumably at another location after the well publicized (and attended) one at the Windbreak Cafe. Because Heather Fair did avow that elections took place-a number of times, not just in court.

Did you follow all that?

Give it another read, and you'll agree: Heather Fair seemingly (just my opinion, mind you) fixed the election several ways: First, she booted out all five she did not want involved in the club. Secondly, the club did not accept new members-recall that 20 people joined at the January meeting. Third, they tallied previous ballots after the regularly noticed membership meeting.

Since then, the club has not had any scheduled or noticed meetings that have been made public. And it has in it's possession, the money from 20 people who attempted to join. For over six months. Heather Fair testified and assured the judge that the funds were in her possession.

I'll leave you digest all the above....and count on more to come!

Fractured Fairy Tales Rdux, part 3

2011-06-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

And thus events get even more confusing, especially concerning the expulsions made by the "club" at the behest of Heather Fair.

Now, remember.....a total of five people were expelled.

Of those five, one was not even a member. Seriously, not even a member at the time!

Margie Buckwalter had mailed in her membership application and a check for dues at the end of the year, and did not hear anything about them for a very long time.

Rachel Peterson did the same online thing I did, and paid via PayPal on the same day. A few hours later her money was returned, with no explanation. She did not receive a notice of formal complaint either.

So, those two people were not even members....yet they were expelled. I'd call that spurious, if it weren't so pathetically obvious that a personal vendetta was being played out-with the club itself serving as the platform. Heather Fair then subsequently testified in court that five members were expelled....that, folks, is a lie under oath by anyone's definition.

Lisa Stevenson had the misfortune to have a difference of opinion with Heather Fair over various goat related matters previously-and boom, she was expelled also. I'll just say it was ugly-and Heather Fair through and through and leave you to your imaginations.

Now as to the last person expelled, Suzanne Nevada. Did you know that Suzanne was one of the founding members? You certainly would not think that she is a knowledgeable, capable goat breeder with well chosen and reserached bloodlines, with a degee in animal science and so on and so forth...to hear Heather Fair tell it to others. Suzanne is well connected here in Alaska, and has many long term ties with various organizations and people in the Lower 48, and she is highly respected here for her skill and knowledge. But out she went too, for reasons never specified.

What makes this beyond dumbfounding is the fact that Heather Fair got her start in goats-by purchasing them from Silveraurora. Which is Suzanne Nevada's kennel and farm name. Yes, you read that correctly-the woman who mentored Heather Fair and helped with the numerous special issues with goats is none other than one of the expelled!

Are you thinking this is some sort of bizarre soap opera? I am sorry to assure you that this is not the case-it is, indeed, a fact that truth is stranger than fiction-at least as it applies to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache.

Again-a fact: When Heather Fair testified under oath that five members were expelled, it was a lie. I'm fairly positive that she affirmed this action at least three times to the judge too. It will be on the public record that she did so knowingly. And how can I state that she did, in fact, know this? Because she did testify that that the membership of the club was 7 members as of the end of the year.

I'll let you all chew on that for a while.....more coming :0

Fractured Fairy Tales Redux, part 2...........

2011-06-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

So that brings us to December 28th. At about the same time-the 28th or 29th, it was noticed that changes were being made to the club website in rapid order. Eventually, the club online membership form was taken down, and so was the PayPal link. Four other people who had applied for membership were also expelled without explanation: They are Rachel Peterson, Suzanne Nevada, Margie Buckwalter, and Lisa Stevenson. So five expulsions-an important number to remember :)

On January 8th, the regularly scheduled meeting took place. The club officers attempted to (unsuccessfully) change the time and venue but folks were able to nail them to the original advertised date and place. Obstensibly, this meeting is the one that served as the annual meeting for the club, with election results and installations of new officers the main points. I would post the minutes here-but they are long and boring aside from a few salient facts:

Heather made the five complaints herself (serving as Treasurer, Webmaster and Newsletter Editor of the club) and was eventually forced to recite them into the minutes (on several recorders present) thusly:

Quote:
_________________

The following complaint was read by Heather Fair:

“I hereby lodge formal complaint against the following parties for violations of the AKMGC's objectives, purpose and bylaws: Suzanne Nevada, Lisa Stevenson, Margie Buchwalter, Tiani Heider, and Rachel Hecker-Peterson. Ten dollars times 5 complaint fee equals fifty dollars deposited pending swift review, response and action Signed Heather Fair. 12-27-2010”

_______________
EndQuote

This is the same meeting the Heather Fair stated repeatedly that memberships could not be "processed" due to a lack of a secretary, so the applications of the five people "expelled" were not members and neither were the new members (or whatever she was thinking, who knows?). This is also the same meeting that President Laura Manary welcomed the new members, and said that our applications would serve as receipt. (You'd think that they'd get on the same page with that, wouldn't you?)

At this meeting, 22 new members joined-including the five of us who had gotten the expulsion notice. Please note that the date Heather Fair recites is the 27th of December.

The very same day I applied.

So in less than 8 hours, I apparantly did....what? What violations? What process was used to handle these complaints? What club does this without giving the accused due process? Is it ethical for a person to bring forth a complaint, and then vote on it too? Do boards have executive powers? These and other questions remain unanswered to this day. But I will say I did see her physically squirm when it seemed that the judge might require Heather Fair to detail the contents of the complaints.

It was a contentious meeting, it is true. Over 40 people showed up, can you imagine? This is the same club that Heather Fair just testified had 5, or maybe 7 members on January 8th. And that has 13 members today. This tidbit of information becomes more interesting when Heather Fair repeatedly denied supplying a member list to the new club members.....

But I am getting ahead of myself-more to come!

Fractured Fairy Tales.......Redux

2011-06-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

A recap of the sordid saga of Alaska goat community:

It all began for this author innocently enough. I'd been thinking of expanding my presence in the goat industry for quite some time. To that end, I was on Facebook one day last December, and performed an action that is done millions of times every single day there: I clicked "like" on the Alaska Mini Goat Cache page. I found another related page, and liked that one too (this one, the Alliance for Raw Milk local page). Imagine my puzzlement when I was booted from both pages-within minutes of each other. Despite the claims of "Facebook glitches", it became clear that the issue was personal when I discovered that the same person was an admin on both pages. That person was Heather Fair.

From there, I asked on a Yahoo group, what was up with being booted? Seemed like a reasonable question, I am sure you will agree. A flood of denials ensued and then more discussion took place over changes being made to the club website.

Who knew that the question I posed, would eventually toss gasoline on a long smoldering tinderbox? For a week or so, the issue of being booted from pages, and administration of pages, and the ins and outs of Facebook were debated and discussed. At some point, I discovered that Heather Fair had personally blocked me. (If you don't know what this is, trust me when I say that participation in a group page where blocking is allowed, is beyond frustrating) And then of course, so did Laura Manary and Tisa Witham too.

Then, on the 27th of December, after I had gone around to the various websites and joined those organizations I usually join, I went to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache website. I intended to join the club, and did so using the club's online membership application and submitted my membership dues at around 4 pm. A number of other people did the same thing at nearly the same time I found out later. On the 28th of December I got the following email:
___________

Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 10:09 PM
Subject: Formal Complaint

A formal complaint has been lodged against you for violations of the AKMGC's objectives, purpose and bylaws.
It has been found with at least 2/3 vote of the officers to have your membership terminated(single or family) by expulsion for a period of not less than 2 years and re-entry into the club will only be allowed upon receipt of completed application with payment and by 2/3 confirming vote of the club's officers at that time. As a courtesy we will refund any monies paid for the 2011 membership.

Laura Manary
AKMGC President
______________

Just pause for a second here: I was a member for a whopping 28 hours. Twenty eight hours between the time that an officer found the appllication, and they decided to terminate me with expulsion. Any bets as to who made the complaint?

Stay tuned!

Notice to Alaska Mini Goat Cache

2011-06-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

On January 8th, of this year at a regularly scheduled and noticed meeting, the President accepted my membership application and welcomed me to the club as a new member.

Since that time, I have seen no notice of new meetings, no newsletter, no information about club activities, and no communication whatsoever with anyone associated with the club.

After attending the small claims court hearing on June 15th and discovering the depths of the malfeasance of officers; the scope of the machinations of the previous board; and the lengths to which personal vendettas are allowed to affect club matters, I am demanding a return of my membership monies.

Based upon the testimony provided by Heather Fair, I do not want any part of this organization.

The club has until June 20th to return my membership fees in full. Should that date pass without receipt of refund, I will go forward with whatever means required to obtain the funds.

Today's the day!

2011-06-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

Today, my son is off on his first 'for real" life adventure. For years, he has been asking to go along with the adults on the trek into a friends' cabin in the Petersville area. We've said no previously because of the typical trail conditions-which are lousy at best. But this year, he has gained enough height and muscle to wrestle his four wheeler through the mud, muck, and muskeg on his own. He now knows how to use the winch, the tow rope, and how to cross small creeks. He's right at the age where he's still fearless (every mother's worst nightmare) and yet has the common sense to think through a situation before rushing headlong into it.

He has no idea what he's facing, exactly, but I've been listening to the stories about slogging through the swamps for years....and, it will be four to six hours of very hard work, with plenty of wheelers stuck or swamped and so on. He's outfitted with rain gear, hip waders, a helmet, and plenty of dry clothes. I've asked that plenty of pictures be taken because he's going to want them-whether he realizes it or not :) I'm excited for him, but not half as much as he is!

Naturally the weather has turned off wet. I won't complain because we have been so dry for so long....we seriously need the rain! But it means that they are all going to end up cold, wet, and tired by the time they get to the cabin. Good thing they're packing a lot of groceries for just a couple days....I don't think his Dad really understands how much a growing 12 year old boy can eat in a day, haha!

Also today another matter moves forward-as noted previously in another blog post earlier. You can be sure I will have something to say about the results-if any-that arise from this afternoon's court date.

Oh and to reassure those of you who contacted me provately about several previous blog entries....again, let me remind you that we do live in the USA, where there is this wonderful document called the Bill of Rights. I have the right to express my opinion, really I do. And that is that, as is oft quoted.

It's done, it's done, it's done!!!

2011-06-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Hip hip hooray!

Everything is planted at long last!! As of yesterday, the cold frame is bursting with pots of corn and tomatoes. Heck even the left over odd balls (not counting the two six packs of cabbage? cauliflower? I found in the car today...and why was it in the car?) are in the ground. In about six weeks my new raised bed will be bursting with pumpkin plants, carrots, a couple egg plants, etc. Planted snap peas thickly along a fence panel, and I sure hope they come up! Nothing is quite as good as snacking on those while you are weeding, lol The onions are obviously pretty happy to be in the ground and I have buds on all my zucchini plants-pumpkins too. I put the acorn squash some distance away and it is thriving as well. All in all, pretty danged happy with how things turned out :)

Of course, along the way I discovered that I have a bad end on a hose that leaks something awful, and that the sprinkler I used last year on the main garden is kaput, lol So I now have a spiffy new sprinkler and hose end repair stuff on hand. Despite a short downpour or two yesterday, the sun today has everything dried out-so, tractor sprinkler is going on the lawn and I'll tend the baskets and greenhouse tomorrow morning.

I am especially happy that I don't have the greenhouse as crowded as previous years. This time, there is ample air flow and there is plenty of space for the growth to come. I even have room for a chair so I can enjoy my daily chores there-instead of feeling mildly annoyed about snaking a hose through the pots or accidentally missing watering a plant by hand. I moved the cukes to the back wall and put the melons on the westerly side-and that seems to make them both much happier than before. The cucumbers have tripled in size in about ten days and the melons the same.....they even have buds forming. Found a couple of nice sized green peppers too. The tomatoes are flowered, but not fruiting yet. I am a little behind on those because it took so long to get into there and get them potted up. But they too, are obviously happy and look marvelous.

Now if I could just get the lawn going.........

All that......and more!

2011-06-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

When I mentioned in a previous entry that a saga was developing regarding All That, I wasn't joking......things are getting stranger by the minute and I am waiting the Cyclops to make it's appearance to complete this journey through the bizarre :)

As I ponder whether and/or how much to share, I think I will reverse the clock a little and toss out a few tidbits as they relate to All That.

All That is nothing if not persistent in her attempts to "right wrongs", even if she is in error. Thus, her assertions and accusations against various members of the local horse community in the past. No one was spared, especially lay people she did not like. But she was not above vilifying the professionals too.....veterinarians and farriers in particular. The sun shined out the butt of her chosen service providers and she made no bones about it. She was so bad about it, that several confessed to me personally that they would never be able to respond to her property for any reason. Ever. This is how you burn bridges here that cannot be repaired. There are a limited number of horse practitioners and professionals here in Alaska, and it is a foolish person that alienates anyone. I am pretty sure that a check of complaints made against professional license holders here, would have her signature on them. It's a logical conclusion, based on her own words.

All That used to laud praises upon the horses she owned, which she detailed at length on her little chat group. Having seen these horses in person, I can attest that they did, in fact, exist. So it was with great puzzlement when all learned that her youngest horse (a strapping QH/TB type) had been put down due to hoof issues. I kept my thoughts to my self about the decision, but horse owners know this is a painful, difficult thing to do. That left the senior fellow who was seemingly going great guns on a mash diet. After our falling out, I didn't hear anything about her horse for many months. Imagine my surprise when it was relayed to me that All That put down the old horse. On her property. And butchered him on the spot. And into her freezer he went-steaks and roasts of no doubt tender horseflesh. And yes, she did indeed consume his remains-and has even bragged about doing so.

I'll wait while you fill the barf bag-I know I threw up a little in my mouth at the thought. Now, I have actually eaten horse before.....and would not have any compunction against eating it in the future if I was starving. The point being, if I was starving. But All That was surely not, since they are employed by the State-who is generous indeed with wages. I can't get around this one at all....she ate her pet. Euww! Most horse owners I know who cannot bury their beloved equine friends on their property, either dispose of the remains at the landfill, or arrange to have a local dog musher harvest the carcass for their dog team. Now, owning 20 acres surely meant there was enough room, right? And if not, surely they had the money to dispose of her pet at the dump, right? And if not, surely she knew mushers willing to help, right?

Wrong on all counts, sad to say. So that chapter of her animal husbandry closed and she continued on with goats.......If you peruse her website, you will find many walls of text, explaining in great detail everything. And I do mean everything. But what she does not confess, is her atrocious treatment of goat industry professionals-such as, calling the president of a national organization a liar. In print. On a public forum. She has jumped into the larger pond that is the US goat world, and left behind nothing but the lingering impression of what a whackjob she really is. From the various organizations who sanction shows, to those who record dairy information to judges, appraisers and other professionals (many of whom have become experts in their chosen fields due to many decades of effort) and breeders-none are spared from her scathing assaults. The private emails fly and speculation ensues and while they'll take her money happily enough, most are trying to stay under her radar. Privately, she has become something of a joke, in a "tsk tsk, oh my" sort of way-but a joke nonetheless.

Would that her goat endeavors here in Alaska be a joke also, but alas, they are not........

More to come. But you knew that, right?

Progress!

2011-06-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yippee! There is progress on the garden! The main garden is planted, thanks in large part to the efforts of my niece. Everything that is remaining in the greenhouse is potted up, and the extra tomatoes and corn await attention in the cold frame. The raised bed is nearly complete too, I only need to add the little brackets and then I can spread the dirt and think about planting. Loaned out the tiller to our good friend and neighbor and it quit on him.....hopefully the problem is still under warranty and I'll hear about that today with luck. Aside from the cold frame, I have pumpkins and acorn squash to get planted, and peas and spuds if possible. And yes I am well aware I am very late with those two, lol

Also last night, I picked up two turkey chicks....these are for eating this fall. And, I have five more ordered to arrive at the end of the month too. Those are Sweetgrass, a very hardy bird that breeds true and is thrifty-not to mention very pretty. Hopefully they will all survive the shipping and then brooding and I will end up with at least one tom and two or three hens to winter over. Crossing my fingers on this one, because turkey chicks just aren't easy to raise. Very fragile when they are young! Another gal has chosen the same breed and number (from a large combined order) and between us we can hopefully establish the breed here in Alaska. A little genetic diversity is not a bad thing :)

As to the goat world....well, things are happening. And won't you all be entertained when I can lay out the story! But you'll have to wait because it has turned into a saga of epic proportions, haha!

Summer has arrived, woohoo!

2011-05-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, summer like weather has finally arrived in Southcentral Alaska-and none too soon! We've had a very cold and dry spring with the birch trees leafing out several weeks later than normal. Lawns are beginning to green up, and the ornamental shrubs, bushes, and berries are leafing out as well. The past three days, we have had glorious sunshine and temperatures into the 70s.

Naturally this has lead to a frantic amount of work for those of us who garden. It's a mad scramble to get the garden plots and beds fully prepped and then planted. I am running around a week behind but with the help of family, it's getting done. Bless my niece who helped all day yesterday! As of this weekend, I should finally have room in my greenhouse to pot up my tomatoes and corn.....I haven't had a spare square foot in there since I moved in. I did manage to get the vegetables hardened off to sunlight, but the flowers-baskets, bowls and planters, have been put aside until today.

It'll be a busy, yet very productive weekend as I head over to help out a friend all three days.

Yeehaw, summer in Alaska! Where you burn both ends of the candle in the summer, and sleep all winter!!

Finally!

2011-05-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Finally it seems as though the weather has turned the corner into something we might remember as spring. It's been so cold overnight-with temps in the very low 30s or upper 20s for weeks on end-that we were all pretty discouraged. A few lucky areas have been blessed with warmer micro climates and have their plants out, but most do not. In fact, here it is, May 22nd, and the trees are not yet fully leafed out-and neither are all the shrubs. Typically, we're pretty much leafed out by Mothers' Day so this has been a set back to all gardeners.

But that doesn't mean the preparation work stops. I have a new pile of what passes for topsoil up by the garden-ready to amend and plant. I've delivered more items to the commercial greenhouse, and brought home my own hanging baskets. Yesterday I got peppers, tomatillo's, cucumbers, and melons potted up for the summer. Today I will work on all the annual containers, which will be pitifully small indeed. They've been kept in their cell packs for easily three weeks longer than normal, darn it. I'm still up to my eyeballs in veggie starts, even after setting aside whats needed by friends and family. And I have tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes, haha Which is going to mean lots of big pots and I am so thankful that I had the foresight to purchase a number of those this spring!

We've also come up with a plan to replace the (incredibly ugly!) gravel alongside the long garage wall, hip hip hooray! In about three weeks or so, that gravel will be removed-and carefully spread to alleviate some minor drainage problems elsewhere. Then, lots of dirt gets spread and we'll be seeding it for grass. For this wall, I got a total of five lilac shrubs to plant, they are going to look wonderful! For the back side, I have two Norland apple trees and a Centennial to plant too, woohoo! Of course this means a fence for protection from moose, but I don't mind, I have been wanting apple trees for years. And most exciting of all, I managed to snag onto three honey berry bushes. Very hard to come by, these Zone 2 plants will provide not only scented blooms, but some wonderful berries when mature. The berries look like an elongated blueberry, and taste nearly the same.

Yesterday, I about had a disaster. My wonderful husband removed some fencing at the barn that wasn't needed, and moved the coop over one stall. It freed up quite a bit of barn space, so we're both happy about that. His idea was to fence off the garden from moose (and chickens!) using the fence panels with chicken wire zip tied to it. Sounded really good, but then yesterday I barely managed to snatch up a flat of veggies from being wolfed down by the laying hens.....and, instead of fencing the chickens out of the garden, I now have to fence them in. There is no way I can harden anything off with those birds loose, they'll eat it, lol! So today, one of the first things to tackle is making a secure fence for the girls. They are not going to be happy, poor things.

Another little project is to construct a real raised bed down by the greenhouse. Just has to be done, and hopefully I will have this knocked together by midweek....it should be about 24 by 6 foot wide when completed. That's my pumpkin bed, and this time I will make sure I can easily add my plastic piping hoops over the entire bed, lol Also accomplished last week-thanks to my wonderful husband a couple of friends-the cold frame is up and sheeted. We used the scrap covering from the big greenhouse for it, and set the legs into concrete blocks. That's where the corn and extra tomatoes will be this summer.

I am sure am looking forward to all the new projects being completed-then I can share pictures!

Dancing with disaster

2011-05-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

That's about the most on point description I can make about the big decision to move nearly all the plants into the greenhouse. We've had temperatures down into the upper 20s at night for several weeks, with highs only reaching into the 50s. But gosh darn it, all my plants were really suffering, being held under artificial lights.

We made the big move a few days back....which took quite a number of trips with the four wheeler and trailer, shuffling down over 60 flats, a couple dozen bowls and 30 or 40 pots of tomatoes and peppers. Any amount of sun and the greenhouse would heat right up into the 80s, and the fans would do their magic as usual. But it was the night time temps that had me most worried. I was able to borrow a 1500 watt electric heater from a fellow gardener, and thank heavens I did. Friday morning, I had a temperature of just 35 degrees inside. The expected low last night was forecast to be "in the upper 20s" which prompted me to find a second 1500 watt heater (also borrowed, this time from a neighbor) and I am so so thankful I did! Yes, 29 degrees here this am, but temperature in the greenhouse was about 40. Yay! Disaster averted!

And in the goat world here..........

All That continues to dance with disaster herself. A few days back I saw a partial post she made with the phrase "someone unmentionable". Really, All That? She is trying so hard not to publicly mention the farm, the breeder, and so forth, that she is forced to resort to stupid phrases like this. All That, many of us can see that big yellow stripe down your back from a long ways away.....stop trying to be cute. We're not buying what you're trying to peddle.

So here is the situation: A local breeder sold All That what essentially amounted to a starter herd. The breeder mentored All That for months, and answered questions and provided sound advice and so on-like anyone would do who is helping someone get started in something new. Now, breeders who understand breeding realize that pairings have several goals. No need to trot out the specifics as they relate to goats, but the aim is to improve quality not just create numbers. You look through the results, and cull what does not seem to be able to help you attain your long term goals-and if you are smart breeder, you also let a number of your best move on to new homes. This does two things: Allows the purchaser to continue with your lines, and helps to reinforce the farm breeding program. The trick is finding the right person to take those lines forward, you see? Culls are typically placed in either the stew pot or pet homes (in goats anyhow) and placing a promising doe or buck (sometimes with show and production accomplishments) is a gamble that knowledgeable breeders know they must take from time to time. Eventually the new owner breeds the animals and this helps the original breeder to see what different crosses and genetics can produce. In most cases, it's a win-win situation-but not, or course, with All That.

How the mentor became the someone unmentionable is a long story, but it boils down to the inexperience of All That, the breeder's decision under pressure to sell a particular goat, and then that goat did not turn out the way that All That expected. Therefore, the goat itself, it's parentage, and the fact of its origins are curiously absent from All That's public communications-but not the private ones, alas. She'll type any contortion to avoid the breeder's name, farm name, side and dam and so on. Just hilarious-and shows her true colors to all.

To anyone else, this is no big deal. We buy an animal, making a sound choice (hopefully) on what attributes are known and sometimes it just doesn't pan out. In horses, this can turn out to be an unknown physical condition, an undesirable behavior, or just a case of "don't click" at all. All That knows this, but seemingly does not believe it applies to herself and her choices in goats.....because, remember, she IS "All That".

As far as the court case, it moves forward at the glacial pace of the legal system. The Alaska Mini Goat Cache is moving forward as a club and several shows are planned this summer. It's a happy group of goat loving people and the meetings are well run, organized, and much gets accomplished each time.

Rumors continue to arise about the missing club funds' and All That's newly purchased (and expensive!) goats from the Lower 48 earlier this year, but we are all quick to squash this one. Since All That does not participate in the club any longer, and does not interact with us online or via email lists, this is just one of a number of questions that remain unanswered. Of course, this didn't stop the (former, resigned on Jan 9) president and All That herself from attempting to seize control of the club's bank account, haha This happened in March, btw. Of course they were not able to take the funds....but it surely shows intent.

Doesn't it?

A little sunshine

2011-05-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

We have a little sunshine this afternoon, and it has surely lifted my spirits! Now if the night time temperatures would just come up about 8 degrees, I'd be a happy camper too.

Speaking of sunshine.....You may have heard the word used to describe exposing various schemes, plots, past actions of ill repute and so on. As in, "shine a little sunshine" on some person or situation. Today, I'd like to shine a little light on what can only be called a "smear campaign".

The important thing to know about smear campaigns, is that they are deadly effective. Whether the aim is to ruin reputations, or carried out for spite, revenge or whatever, they are insidious. In the right situation, just casting doubt is as damaging as renting a bill board for the world to see. Another important thing to know about these, is that the target is forced into a defensive posture. Rarely does a victim go on the offensive to curb or muzzle the perpetrator-they are too busy attempting to smooth the waters by providing the real truth-or simply too upset or angry to cope with the attack. Some folks will retreat into their circle of friends, family and supporters, and not deal with it all....which is essentially allowing the smear campaign to continue unabated and unchallenged.

They are incredibly effective when they are carefully planned and executed with the shield of anonymity, typically by using third parties, or such venues as can be found on line easily. Having been the victim myself a number of times, I understand the frustration that results. That said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who might be gunning for you, either. It will someone you had a run in with (even though it may have seemed inconsequential at the time), someone you had a big argument with-in person or on the web, or simply someone who has bought into whatever gossip/rumor/innuendo was fed to them.

The people who orchestrate smear campaigns, I consider to be cowards. Not brave enough to face someone and have it out-they resort to using other means to do their dirty work. And dirty work it is, make no mistake about it.

So, consider this a public warning to the two people attempting to "ruin" me. I won't have it. If you don't have the balls to take it to me direct, then remember this: It's a two way street.

And you live on it too.

The calendar says it's May......

2011-05-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

But the night time temperatures don't!

Usually by this time of year, I have made up all my containers and I've started hardening them off to sun. Instead, it's been into the mid to upper 20s overnight for over a week-with no sign of edging higher. I've got four flats of annuals that I am pretty much starving, awaiting transplanting into bowls, pots and other containers....the baskets at the big greenhouse are getting some size on them which is nice-but still, it needs to WARM UP overnight! Grrrr!

Typically, we can count on "green" by Mother's Day. The first week of May will bring us the birch buds and a faint tinge of green-but not this year. I just now have buds showing on my raspberries so they are slow too. Very frustrating if you are a gardener!

On the other hand, I've been able to get my greenhouse cleaned out ahead of time. I have clean benches and all the pots and whatnot are tucked underneath them, ready to use. I have bales of potting mix there, and have one barrel scrubbed and filled with water. The other barrel still has some bleach in it-it had quite the mess inside since it was my manure tea maker. Over the weekend I picked up some bare root strawberries, and with my son's help, got them planted into hanging bags. There are three of them down there-cold or not, and they seem to be growing nicely no matter the overnight temperatures.

I am still gathering information about heating the new greenhouse. That's the biggest stumbling block to getting that erected, as it turns out. I have explored a lengthy list of options-from natural gas unit heaters, to wood, coal, masonry, or multi-fuel boilers, to a variety of passive heating designs such as subterranean, solar, and combinations of all sorts. Each has their pros and cons, and hardly a one is "just right" for my situation. I am not heating a house-and could hardly afford anyway-so the geothermal option is out. I could probably get away with a simple wood or barrel stove if I could rig up a water jacket and circulate or store the heat in some fashion. The amount of cubic space to heat is substantial (over 11000) but it's not a house and I only need the heat for maybe three months, tops-March, April, part of May. No way can I justify a multi fuel boiler starting at over eight grand, lol! And, I only need about 40 degrees worth of heat too. As it turns out, finding people who "get" what I am trying to do, is pretty difficult. Just yesterday I learned of another possibility, so I will be pursuing that too......I know for a fact the wood stove we have in our own home, would easily heat about half the space (which would be 24x30) but gosh darn it, the newer super efficient wood stoves are expensive! Oh well, I will come up with a solution eventually, I am sure of it.

The planting and seeding is beyond crazy. I had this idea to try a new thing to sell, and I am out of space! Again! And no room at the commercial greenhouse for one more single flat either, lol Over 150 flats delivered, with at least another 30 to go. In just over a week, I need to start the leaf lettuces too-and I am full up and then some. I may end up moving the tomatoes into the house so I can have room under the big light. In the midst of this shuffling flats, my car has developed what seems to be a wheel bearing issue. Just what I didn't need, as I need my vehicle, lol! It holds 9 flats even with the dogs that go with me every day. The trucks? None!

So here we are, first week of May, and I am in a holding pattern. It's the pits. Just like finding that a moose visited my raspberry patch sometime in the last few days. All the big canes got topped neatly......sigh

Come on, more sun!

2011-04-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

A rather gloomy day outside, and here I am-working away inside. Unfortunately, the household chores just don't magically do themselves. Between baking and laundry, I have been working away at filling more flats with little bitty growing things. By the time this is done, I am going to need a chiropractor for my darned neck, haha!

The round pen area has dried enough to use, but snow remains in the shady spots and the berms that are slowly melting. If we could just have a week of sunshine, I think we'd be pretty much dried up.....at least enough to give some attention to the lawn. As it is, we still have rivulets across the drive in several spots-carefully tended to take the excess away as quickly as possible. Every vehicle we've moved is that well known "break up" color, and there isn't much point in washing them either.

While we're waiting to see evidence of buds on the birch trees, I am trying not to pay attention to events in Japan, what's happening in Congress, and what our joke of a legislature is (not) doing. I am trying not to panic over the rapidly increasing freight rates, grocery prices, and of course, fuel. I am trying not to become upset over any of it.....because right now, dealing with those baby plants is doing my teeny tiny bit to help folks cope with inflation. I even amaze myself at the quantity of food those flats represent :)

Over 125 flats delivered, with more to go today!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.....

2011-04-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

While the local goat world awaits Heather Fair's action (if any) about the small claims suit filed against her, life has ramped up into overdrive for me.

Remind me why I do this?

I am up to my elbows in growing mixes, starts, germinating seeds, and shuffling flats as fast as I can to make room for more. Eight different types of cucumbers started-and that's a lot! Summer squashes get seeded this coming weekend, and I have six varieties of those alone. After that it's into the lettuces....and so on and so forth.

I had near complete "crop failure" on a couple things, due to how I attempted to germinate the seeds. Not one to repeat the mistake, I have resorted to broad casting seed thickly, then pricking out the starts and planting those directly. Makes for completely full flats which is what I need to deliver. It actually saves me more time than it takes, which is always helpful.

The garage, kindly serving as my indoor greenhouse, is completely thrashed. Sigh. Flats and boxes and bales of ProMix, seed packets, gloves, watering cans, and so on are piled everywhere. I resolve to straighten it out this weekend, or I will be doomed to overlook something critically important, for sure. My wonderful, tolerant husband is thinking of making a plastic sheeted wall for one side of the garage, so I can use that as well. I've seen it done here before so I know it's possible.

Meanwhile, I am trying to figure out how to get a little heat into my own greenhouse, without breaking the bank account. I am not so sure it can be done on my "cheap beer" budget, lol

Fractured, frazzled fairy tales......part 2

2011-04-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

As the community knows, "all that" is nothing if not wily. Indeed, one might even say....Machiavellian, a calculating paranoid who maintains copious dossiers on every person she interacts with-and does business with.

Once you are in her sights, you will be researched, Googled, Bing'd, and any and all information is carefully copied and saved, or screen saved, or just filed away for future use. Any comment made anywhere is "fair game" and she'll look up your court records, and any other dirt she can find using her prodigious internet sleuthing skills. The net is not her only source of information, of course...and she'll be combing through your enemies and use friends for snippets of gossip which may or may not have factual basis. It's all ammunition in the guerilla style attack to come.

With reams of information at hand, she waits in ambush for the unsuspecting to make a statement in error. When the occasion presents itself, your past words and deeds are exposed for the world to see, in extensive detail....yet couched in terms that lead others to wrongful conclusions and always puts the prey on the defensive.

All That missed her calling. She'd fit right in, on the Beltway. Or the CIA. Or even in local politics. But no, she is firmly entrenched in state employment and no doubt manipulating those around her with equal ease.

Those she wishes to impress, or make friends of, have no idea of her tactics and the lengths to which she'll stoop to have her way. But at heart, she remains a coward. This blog author watched her nearly fall into apoplexy when asked to explain, in detail, her assertions that certain people were not worthy of joining the club. Of course she was not able to do this. A coward indeed, who could not back up her protestations at all.

And while she beguiles the easily lead, they do not understand their danger.

They do not know that she is nothing but a miserably paranoid person full of hot air and posturing and who is just friendly with you only to gain your trust-and that she has no problems sacrificing that trust by throwing you under the proverbial bus, should that suit her needs.

Of course, this is just my opinion, and as "All That" is wont to type: YMMV.

Please feel free to ask specific questions, and I will be happy to share the facts as I know them :)

A Fairy Tale......

2011-04-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there came to the Valley, a gal who believed herself to be all that.

"All that" was anything and everything she turned her eyes upon. With a focus unworldly, she zeroed in on the local horse community. Convinced of her inevitable greatness due to serving as a foster home for horses in need, she set about righting wrongs and educating the great unwashed masses. Dipping her toes into the roiling waters of normal people, she became disenchanted with a few notable locals. They just didn't know how to do things properly and even worse, a few were evidently scofflaws in her opinion. And most damning of all, most people did not want to hear her message!

Snubbed, she started a chat group. Which quickly became known as her own personal fiefdom, where a dissenting thought was never welcomed, and all eventually became wary. Many left the group, for safer havens elsewhere, but she was quick to type "good riddance" and move to the next target. It was ever her style to publicly belittle and trounce a persons' reputation-deserved or not.

As time passed, she became enamored of another species. With great enthusiasm she jumped into learning anything and everything goats. In just a few short weeks, she became the "expert" her ego demanded, and shortly thereafter purchased a starter herd from a reputable local breeder.

But as the months passed, of course the breeder could not possibly know as much as "All that" and she began to question her choices. Since she is not capable of making a mistake, any misjudgments had to arise from the breeder, and this caused much dissension over time.

During this, she sought to make a name for her farm. Which meant joining clubs and chat groups, and showing the ignorant the error of their ways. And then of course, running things since she could do things so much better than anyone else. Eventually she became an officer of the local club, and there, proceeded to ramrod the organization to her bidding. With words uncounted and a force of ego amazing to behold, she had her way. Who could stand firm in the flood? No one.

People became fearful in her presence, but outwardly friendly. But when she saw something amiss-correct or not-she ran with it. She ran so hard she propagated damaging lies and misinformation and caused several other farms and breeders much distress and anguish and lost business.

And then I, yes I, the blog author, decided one day to "like" a Facebook page. Silly me, I did not know she was involved with the page-and I was promptly booted from that page, and then another. And then not just booted, but personally ignored. Justifiably upset over the action, I questioned it. Which lit a firestorm on the local email lists.

With much gnashing of teeth and wailing and many blistering walls of text, she defended the indefensible. With the tenacity of a Tasmanian devil, she tore into one person and the next, publicly eviscerating the supposedly guilty right along with the innocent. She refused to let people join the club, refused to acknowledge members, and so on.

So the club went on without her. With excellent legal advice at hand, the club continued its business, and elections and went forward with plans for the future.

But my goodness the discoveries made, my my!

Fractured Fair(y) Tales

About time to swap the slippers

2011-03-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

For break up boots, yay! Alaskans will smile and folks reading here from the Lower 48 are no doubt puzzled, haha

What it means is: It's starting to get a little slushy during the day, which means we are easing into "breakup" season, which means-spring and summer are just around the corner now. This is a good thing, because I've had one heckuva month already!

Shortly after my last entry here, my son didn't feel well and I ended up running him into the clinic-diagnosis was pneumonia. (Eeks!) Right on the heels of that I got very sick myself, and ended up in the hospital for four days-influenza A. No kidding, the flu. Since I had never had the real flu, I had no idea just how sick I was....which was pretty bad. Luckily I did not develop pneumonia myself, but it's been a slow recovery for the past couple of weeks.

This doesn't mean that my spring seeding was forgotten-on the contrary! I have run over nearly 20 flats of annuals, and last weekend seeded 50 flats with veggies (with a good friends' valuable assistance). Cabbages are up, and the nasturtiums are starting to pop up. I have tomatoes and peppers and a couple other things showing as well and fairly soon I will be delivering those and seeding. I should plant this weekend (again!) but I am almost out of space. Five racks that will hold 16 flats each plus the table and I am out of room, haha!!! If think I may be able to juggle a few things around and get those specialty melons and squashes done just the same. In two weeks I have another huge plant to do which will include the pumpkins, sweet corn, and cucumbers.

Even if it's foggy, and still crunchy in the mornings, summer is on its way, yay!

Day six on big winds.....

2011-03-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

With several nights of interrupted "sleep" behind me, I am fast approaching walking zombie status. This is day six of big winds, and I'm pretty sure it's been gusting better than 50 mph already this morning. Yesterday I had to spend some time outside in it, and was thankful for the invention of insulated Carhart pants :)

This week, I managed to get another light rack and will be picking up fixtures and bulbs on my way home. With over 60 flats going, and easily another 25 to start, I have to have the space under lights. Also finally got a new type of oscillating fan. I'd been looking at them for a couple of years, actually. They are a pedestal and the air is blown vertically, as opposed from a circle as with a regular fan. I'm happy to say it works wonderfully! With three racks being inside a make shift plastic tent inside the garage, providing any air flow is a real headache. Now I am wishing I had gotten it sooner, lol

Back to the winds....I am now having second, third, and fourth thoughts about moving the beautiful wood framed greenhouse up to the top. It would mean that the back wall would be completely exposed to the winter winds. I don't have to worry about debris because there is no one to the northeast of me for quite a ways-but I am concerned about damage to the panels. In fact, I can't think of a place where it would get enough sunshine, yet have some protection from big winds. The only other places with good sun exposure are one particular spot near the house (which means taking down a bunch of trees and doing some site work) or on the arena proper. The arena has heavy trees to the north, but we do use it regularly. I'd have to place it close to the trees for any protection....but this would mean a chance of a tree falling (well duh) and put it just about as far away from power and water as possible. That's just not going to work, is it?

Well, just another problem to solve, right? The correct solution will present itself, I'm sure of that. Until then, I'll be head down to the winds.......

Spring is coming, right?

2011-02-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

The calendar may say that spring is coming soon...but gosh darn, it's been a tipsy turvey couple of weeks as far as weather goes. From danged cold, to above freezing, to windy and bouncing back and forth between them. Once in a while we get some snow to liven up the challenge. Ugh. On Friday it was warm and we had mist, rain, fog, snain, sleet and snow. Of course as soon as the skies clear here in the winter, the temps drop which means everything is pretty much iced over. Double ugh. Today we have clear skies and big winds at work. I arrived to find the yard here pretty much drifted in. I already called the plow guy, but I am not too confident he can even bust it up with a pickup. I am probably going to have to find someone with a Bobcat to clean it out. Triple ugh.

With the "big plant" another three weeks out, I am already up to my eyeballs in flats with little bitty green things. Seeded another dozen yesterday, in fact, which brings the total up to well over 60. I had to transplant some things into three inch pots, which meant turning on the big light (the 600 watt HPS fixture on a rail) for the first time. Even though I took home one rack from work, which makes for a total of four...I could easily use at least two more. Oh well, just not in the budget at this point.

A couple years back I attempted to start some Tumbling Tom tomatoes, with dismal luck. This year, I tried again-with nearly one hundred percent germination. Which is great, and I hope its a harbringer of good seedings to come. In the meantime, I am constantly diddling with air flow, temperatures, and battling a bit of mold due to accidentally leaving my mini greenhouse in the garage shut one day too long. It's always a learning curve doing this at home, but hopefully one day I'll have the big greenhouse up (complete with heat!) and be able to avoid some of these issues.

I think most gardeners here in Alaska are optomists at the core. Who else would start umpteen bazillion plants when it's still winter?

Life in the Welfare State

2011-02-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

There are examples all over the US, showing what life in a welfare state is like. In fact, history proves that we are, indeed, doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

I could lay out the story abou the last big bust in our economic cycle here, but since it was in the mid 80s, most won't have a clear memory of how it came about.

So looking to the future, it's very grim indeed.

Let's just say that no progress is made in allowing any drilling in the Arctic or offshore. This is very probable, due to government moratoriums, burdensome regulations, onerous tax structure and so forth.

This means that the Trans Alaska Pipeline will have to shut down when it reaches it's minimum operating threshold. It is currently at about 600,000 barrels a day, but declining between four and six percent every year. In fact, Alyeska (the pipeline service company that operates the entire 800 mile length) is having difficulties due to the cooler temperatures of the crude. So, what does it mean to the state and the people that live here? The "oil patch" provides about 80 percent of state income from royalties and taxes. The industry is the biggest employer apart from the state itself. I am fairly sure there will be a small amount of work left up there, for monitoring those wells and the extensive infrastructure that has been built to transport it. Many people believe that the companies who have invested billions of dollars in Alaska, just won't walk away from it. I beg to differ, I am sure they will be forced to do so by pressure from their Boards and shareholders.

Once this is nearly upon us, our legislature will finally act to do something positive-but it will be way too late-they are always reactive instead of proactive anyway and most are thinking about nothing but their own personal power and how to get re-elected. As the revenues decline from the pipeline, there will be occasional bump from the oil futures trading market. Any time the price of oil runs up over $90, the state gets a big flush of cash. This will calm most peoples' fears as to a functioning state budget....but, about ten years from now, it will be time to pay the piper on those retirement plans. This is a huge liability, in the billions. Naturally, no one is thinking about forward funding these, so I am pretty sure they will end up raiding the Alaska Permanent Dividend fund-not just for budget shortfalls, but to meet those PERS and TERS obligations. It won't be popular, and there may even be a sales tax, or income tax passed to stave off the inevitable. But it will happen, eventually.

Every governor for the past couple of decades has added to the size of state government. Even our much maligned (or admired, take you pick) Sarah Palin, grew government at an astounding pace. Once these programs and positions are created, it's extremely difficult to pare it back. The rest of us will learn to live within our means, but governments large and small never do. If it were up to me, I would freeze all hiring. Delete any position currently unfilled for six months. And ask each and every department to show efficiences by reducing their budget allotments. (Good lord, I sound like an accountant, don't I?) Those departments that show a significant savings by would get a small performance bonus. In this way, we could reward the thrifty and pare down the size at the same time. There are a number of programs that should be eliminated, but these will be fought over and I foresee a lot of squabbles down the road over those that benefit few, instead of the many.

I am also certain we will have a two way exodus as well. Many will leave due to no work to be had, and others will arrive hoping to cash in on the generous welfare programs we currently have, and that oh so marvelous PFD every year. In general, I figure the state will lose residents, rather than continue its rapid growth. Lots of people will end up bankrupt (this is already happening, by the way) and will be forced to move south to start over near other relatives. Those of us who remain, will be the population that can be supported through limited state governments and what little industry remains. I grew up here in the 60s and 70s, and can tell you that life "pre pipeline" was not easy.

If we are exceptionally lucky, we'll still be employed at my household. As it is, I am not even sure of next month (oil field, of course) and may be facing some really tough choices in the next six months. Yet, even so, I can't imagine living anywhere else....and still plan on investing in Alaska's future with my greenhouse business. Even so, there is a real risk we could have some horrendous events take place that could slide us back to pre-WWII days. Thinking about my son's future here, I am very concerned that he will even have one.

When the money runs out, taxes are enacted which further strain the family budget, and economic activity essentially ceases....what then?

Alaska State (Welfare) Park

2011-02-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

To sum up my argument here:

The north slope oil and gas development days are numbered. Between government prohibitions, environmental lawsuits, aging infrastructure, outrageous tax structure, etc, there is little doubt that it will eventually be mothballed. It will probably occur in stages once the operating threshold for the pipeline is reached, which at the current rate of decline is less than ten years away. There goes many thousands of jobs, and all the related jobs and businesses. And of course, there goes the plum of the arctic revenue stream-pff! Gone.

Gas development in Southcentral is basically dead as well. Aging fields mean less gas is being produced since new exploration and development is practically forbidden. Agrium closed-which produced fertilizers among other products, and now comes word that Conoco Phillips is closing the LNG plant as well. They've been shipping LNG to Japan for decades, but now the Japanese can purchase gas cheaper elsewhere. They are going to shut in the wells this spring-and there is no guarantee that they can be brought back on line next winter-when our demand goes back up. We really cold be facing a severe natural gas shortage as early as next winter.

Mining will follow the same path, mostly as the result of enviromental groups and activists. For decades, Alaska was powered by coal from Beluga, Sutton, and Usibelli. With the influx of people in the last two decades, has come a strong NIMBY segment. They don't want any mining at any time at any place, period end. Coal mining companies are next to Satan, since they are evil polluters, period. Funny thing is, I grew up at Usibelli. Great memories, played outdoors for years in the coal dust and I'm not dead yet ;) When I try to point out that Usibelli started a program for land reclamation well before it was required-and not only that, worked with UAF scientists and researchers to determine the best way to return the lands to native ground cover-I am vilified. Pff! No oil. No natural gas. No coal. They forget how cold it gets up here.

So all those jobs, and the money those industries produce for the state, will go away. So we've had umpteen years of various state administrations expanding the size of state government. If you don't believe me, just take a look inside any local phone book, under "State of Alaska" Look at the hundreds of phone numbers, with dozens of departments, agencies and so forth. Many thousands of Alaskans working for the state-whose operating budget is never adequately addressed. Eventually, the Permanent Dividend will be tapped to pay for this bloated government, likely about the time the unfunded liabilities come due. Those would be, the generous retirement contracts the state handed out like candy in previous years. As I recall, the state governmennt is actually the largest "employer" in the state-all afforded by the taxes and royalties from resource extraction. At some point down the road, the state will have to shrink, which is going to have some interesting effects.....

But before it reaches that point, people will be leaving in droves-those that can. With no jobs, the housing market, construction, and so forth will crash. Tourism and fishing cannot replace the lost income stream, not by a long shot. This is going to place a huge strain on welfare agencies, further stripping the state budget. People will be homeless, need food and shelter, unemployment, help with heating, you name it. We're already experiencing serious problems coping with the homeless and indignent already.....adding thousands of more families to the burden is going to mean that the state will be going to the feds for help.

The fed, of course, is beyond broke.

If you think the scenaio I have shared over these last posts is crazy...I hope you're right. I hope that saner, more competent minds will win the day in both Juneau, and DC. But considering the insanity shown every day in the media, I won't hold my breath. What our elected representatives are doing borders on criminal, in my opinion. Especially the Pollyanna's in Juneau.

Alaska State Park.....cont'd

2011-02-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

To recap:

Oil exploration has halted on the Artic plain....development has been shelved of known reserves, such as Liberty. Further south, the Agrium plant (makers of fertilizers, etc) and the LNG plant on the Kenai have or are closing, due to not enough supply to meet the contracts. This is because there has not been much exploration or development in Cook Inlet either-partly due to tax structure and taxes, partly due to the smaller market here in Southcentral.

In about six years, there won't be enough oil available at Prudhoe Bay to send down the line safely-production has declined to about 600,000 barrels a day and dropping every year. Since it takes so many years to bring a well online, we are reaching a critical turning point in operation of the pipeline. It represents over 80 percent of the state's entire revenues, and of course, has provided handsomely to our state and local governments, and a very long list of improvements-and ongoing liabilities. So, Prudhoe Bay is at risk for being mothballed between no off shore drilling, can't touch federal lands, impossible permitting processes, and punitive tax structure. 1000s and 1000s of Alaska jobs depend on hydrocarbon exploration and development.

No Pebble Mine, no Chuitna or Sutton of Chickaloon coal either, if the enviromentalists and NIMBYs have their way of course. Can't use it, even though the state depended on it for electrical production for decades. It's "too dirty" and poses health and environmental risks, etc-according to opponents. Never mind the jobs, the type of coal present, the sheer necessity of having some sort of resource extraction. So there goes another how many jobs? It will be substantial. Most of the nay sayers are happily consuming energy products in their modern houses, driving vehicles, never seeing the double standard. It's all about locking up the beauty that is Alaska forever. You know, keep it safe and pristine.

Sigh

We are already a welfare state. That means, Alaska gets about $2 in federal money for every $1 we generate in federal taxes. We also have the tightest evironmental regulations anywhere on Earth. We have the strongest oversight, toughest permitting processes and highest taxes as well. Yet, despite this (and dozens of PACs and environmental activist groups) the major US developers would still prefer to produce in Alaska. After all, at least here you don't have your billion dollar investments seized and nationalized. But if they aren't allowed to explore, to drill, to build one blasted bridge for winter use-why would they stay? The legistlature has already proven they can (and will) change how business is done here at a whim.

Of course I am just touching on a small portion of the circumstances here in Alaska. A person must factor in what's happening in Washington, DC, and events around the world. Take into consideration the collapsing economy, the inflation rate (around 20 percent in just food alone here locally-if you haven't been living under a rock) and so on and so forth. The national debt will eventually break this nation, I can't see any other outcome.

What happens after that?

Welcome to Alaska State Park

2011-02-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

Think that's a joke? From where I'm sitting, it's not far from the truth.

Yesterday, I got into a discussion about resource development with a couple of "died in the wool" anti-everything types. I admire their dedication and their viewpoints, but they aren't so welcoming to anyone who attempts to provide a little balance to the debate.

So, let's think about what is really happening up here in Alaska. First we'll start with some basic facts which can't be disputed. The State of Alaska is, of course, the largest state in the union. However, only a small fraction (less than ten percent) is "available" for regular folks-also known as residents. The rest is firmly in state and federal hands. We're talking Denali State Park, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and so on and so on and so on....millions and millions of acres. In addition, there are preserves, native allotments, and refuges dotting the maps, from the Aleutian Islands on down to southeast.

The State is mandated to afford a means for resource development-it's actually in our state constitution. The State retains rights to all mineral resources on all lands it "owns". The issue of wildlife resources has been fought back and forth in court for decades, with the State eventually conceding most control to the feds. With each erosion of the 10th amendment accepted by our legislature (such as the issue of navigable waters) the state loses a bit more oversight of our lands, waters, and the animals that inhabit the state.

In the past few years, the legislature has trotted out some great sounding plans, which turned out to be not so great. ACES (Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share) increased taxes on North Slope production a whopping 400 percent. Nope, not kdding. Because of this, Alaska now ranks as number one for the highest tax structure in the entire world. Yes, you read that right: Highest taxes in the world. Coupled with the most challenging and harsh environment for oil and gas exploration and production on the planet...well, it has consequences. In the three years since it's passage, drilling on the North Slope has dwindled to.....nothing. Can't say as I blame the companies....who would want to invest all that money when the state ends up taking 87 percent? Of course that meant a lot of jobs....but, no one seemed to care. It was all about punishing the oil companies and filling already overstuffed state coffers, so that other pet projects could be done.

Then there is AGIA. Former Governor Palin's idea, to get a third party involved so that there wouldn't be any funny business over who could and could not ship any gas in the future. I thought it was a bad idea at the start, with the state promising a foreign company a half a Billion dollars if the deal fell apart. So here we are, a couple years into this debacle, and we still don't know the results of the Open Season that were promised "after November elections". I am sure a few people in Juneau know whether or not there were any results, but the rest of us have no idea. Between the time the plan was first planned and then brought to the Legislature, and today....gas prices have plummeted, and don't show any signs of going back up. So we have many millions invested into another scheme which is not likely to come to fruition. There are two other competing plans, and they too, are having troubles getting any commitments. And why is that? Because it's darn near impossible to proceed with oil and gas development in the state.

First, there is very lengthy (and expensive!) permitting process to go through. You have to have umpteen agencies' approval, and it can be halted at any time by a $100 lawsuit from any environmental group. Or, like with Pt Thomson, perhaps the Army Corps of Engineers will shut down the project. (They refused a bridge crossing, costing the company several hundred million dollars in lost revenues and about four or five seasons of exploration time-and 800 jobs too) Now, companies are forced to fund their own environmental impact studies, and the results have to be acceptable to a plethora of agencies and groups. For Alaska, five to fifteen years has become the norm for attempting serious resource extraction of any kind. Eventually, most companies give up, between uncertain and punitive actions by our legislature, stupendous tax burdens, and the huge costs of court actions. They just vacate their leases (which they paid millions of dollars for) and go to some other place where actually doing business is possible. Thier duty is to their shareholders after all. So less and less is flowing down the pipeline every year, with no real hope of increasing production. The only reason the state is "flush" is because of a) The outrageous tax structure, and b) The current price of oil. No one seems to remember the years that oil prices were under $30 a barrel, and yet plenty of activity was taking place up north.

As far as the North Slope goes, I see it this way: While the bloated state payroll merrily plans to spend, spend, spend those oil royalty and tax dollars, the legislature is "fiddling while Rome burns". Instead of facing the coming challenges head on, they have managed to name a state dog (last year) and designate "Marmot Day" this year.

On other resource issues, the uproar over Pebble Mine, plans by Usibelli and another company to ship coal, and other projects are hotly debated and staunchly opposed. The opponents forget that these leases have been held for years in some cases. At present, there is no way to effectively buy a lease, and then NOT develop it. This goes back to the state charter and constitution, remember? In the Sutton and Chickaloon areas, local residents are up in arms about plans to resurrect coal mining there. Aside from the obvious (Hello, you knew there was a mine there when you bought the property) they are forgetting the history of the region. Those mines provided much needed jobs and kept many people warm for decades before their arrival. Those mines would provide some much needed employment today too, if allowed.

It's easy to get frustrated with people opposed to development, but they see the risks and I understand them. Loss of habitat, pollution, ruining the environment for years to come-all very possible. Do I want to see salmon streams sacrificed? No! Of course I don't, my family fishes and hunts like many Alaskan residents do every year.

More later...........

Events conspire

2011-02-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

to heighten awareness.

This past Sunday I spent seeding the first flats of the growing season. It sure lifts a gardeners' spirits to get the hands dirty, and smell the wonderful aroma of moist growing media. I also devoted some time to placing all my seeds in order, in loose categories, and into plastic boxes. Naturally, I discovered I didn't have enough of a couple items, and way too much of a few others-but that's okay, at least I know what I have, and can find it too! Previously, the seeds were scattered between a number of small cardboard boxes which made it easy to overlook things. I also worked on the planting schedule and boy, am I in for a real challenge. In about two weeks I am going to be full up...and scrambling for more space.

Monday evening I discovered that an armed break in occurred just a few blocks from my home, during the day on Sunday. So while I was happily filling, wetting, and seeding those flats, a young girl was sitting terrified, tied up, while two armed men robbed the house.

Sadly, no one knew what had happened or noticed anything amiss. I made phone calls to neighbors and related what had happened. Half are firmly in the "no big deal" camp due to the residence being known as a "drug house" because the owner was busted for pot nearly 20 years ago. The other half are pretty unnerved about it, like I am.

It meant a stern talk with my son about never, ever, opening the door for someone he does not know, period. It scared him a little, and that's probably a good thing, really. He's pretty naive about life in general, and while I would wish for him to remain free from the risks of the world, I know it's not a reasonable thing. It could have been us, since these armed home invasions are happening.

Of course this brings up something that has been bothering me a little bit lately. And that is: Why are these crimes not being reported? Because they are not. If you were basing your assumptions about crime in my area on the Troopers' Public Information Office press releases, or what is mentioned in the local paper, you'd think.....well, they are catching drunk drivers, serving warrants, and responding to accidents and civil matters. But you aren't reading about the meth labs, drug deals, marijuana grow operations that used to be so much in the news. It has pretty much disappeared from public view.

Which would lead a skeptic to conclude that someone (or several someones) have decided to scrub the news....or, at the very least, not let on just how bad things are out there.

I am not sure I want to know.

I know it's not Christmas, but I have this song

2011-01-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

chorus stuck on my mind......."It's the most wonderful time of the year" Yes, I'll admit it, I have an ear worm ;) Around and around it repeats, and mentally I am sporting a broad grin, can't help myself one bit.

And why is that?

Because it's planting time, that's why!!!

My seeds are in, the garage mini greenhouse is built, plastics and media ordered, and starting very soon, I'll be filling trays and setting seed. YIPPEE!

By Saturday afternoon I should have dozens of flats filled, and placed under lights to begin the first plant of the season. I'll be starting with lobelia, and then successive plants will follow as the weeks roll on this spring. This time, I'll try to take more photos to track my course and progress-and to share here too.

For those that listen quietly and read

2011-01-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

between the lines, what is happening in our world, I offer this article:

http://biggovernment.com/jmsimpson/2011/01/17/agenda-21-part-i-a-global-economic-disaster-in-the-making/

This is all about eroding your rights as US citizens, about undermining our freedoms to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". It is all about globalization of nations, economies, natural resources, and so on.

Do you think that the groups who are so diligently working to halt all development in this state, are doing so with grand ideals? Wrong. Take a look at their financial and organizational ties, then get back to me.

Way back when I read about UN Agenda 21, I was shocked, appalled, and pretty upset to realize that this has been an ongoing campaign for over 40 years. Recently, I read the foreward of a marvelous book called "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America". Here's a link-and trust me, you won't look at our educatinal system in the same way again:

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/

Included is the blueprint, the mechanism by which this is fostered, the people who orchestrated the raiding of your rights......for decades.

There are very few people who recognize the scope of the movement, the implications, the consequences. It is a huge snarl of trade treaties, pacts, resolutions by various branches of governments around the world, the pervasive nature of the buzzwords that have crept into our lives via politicians, main stream media, and all the way down to the local level such as advisory committees, devlopment guidelines, and so forth. It is everywhere, if you bother to look.

I feel like the canary in the coal mine.

Incredibly bad weather so far......

2011-01-12T10:27:00.001-08:00

It was just a week ago that we had temperatures into the lower 40s. This caused a huge amount of accidents and mishaps because there was literally standing water on top of ice just about everywhere.

Then it turned off cooler and traction improved...always a good thing. And then today we have another big wind storm. Winds are forecast to reach gusts of 75, and I have a hunch we've already exceeded that here at work. I can hear gravel and dust hitting the east wall and the one window is dancing in its frame as usual. This wind is more easterly so I am not hearing the rebar bracing in the shop making aracket at least. But I am sitting here in my office listening the howling and wondering what all is being damaged outside. I have at least a dumpster's worth of trash caught up on the fenceline to the east....and more inside, carried by the very strong winds.

Last night things were in a bit of a shambles in the barn, so some re-arranging was done to keep things inside where they belong. (And yes, that includes the hay being fed too) I did manage to get a new round bale safely unloaded with a good friends' help-without her expertise it would have stayed on the truck, lol Everyone was okay this morning but as always, I worry.

Even the dogs don't want to go outside, and who can blame them? Supposedly a contractor is needing an item today, I told him I would not open the gates unless I had help. I have a hunch its blowing too hard for them to work safely and it will wait a couple of days-just like the load of tanks that's waiting for me in town.

On the sunny side of things, I got my seeds! Yippee, yahoo, and I can't wait to get something planted at home!

Oh my!

2011-01-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

In order to get my new website up and running, I needed to prepare a list of the vegetable varieties I'll be growing this year. To that end, I began the project yesterday afternoon, and continued with it this morning.

For each variety I decided to include a little text about the plant, so that folks will know what to expect and maybe a personal comment or two. I was working my way down the list and then realized how many pages I had generated. Idly, I counted up the varieties, and found over 70!! That's right, over 70 varieties to start this year alone!

Gadzooks, how did that happen?

It includes some flowers, such as lobelia, nasturtiums, alyssum and etc that I am starting for either my own use, or resale. But oh my gosh! That is a very scary number. Each variety is going to have multiple flats too, haha!

Here is what I can remember:

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages. Zucchini and patty pan squashes. A bunch of different pumpkins. Peppers, tomatoes, lettuces. Swiss chard, dill, and celery. Cucumbers, sweet and miniature corn, brussel sprouts. A fun miniature cucumber, perfect for making sweet gherkins. Not the entire list, but you get the idea.

When I am on here whining about having no space and thoroughly exhausted from planting, tending, watering, shuffling flats, and turn them-you'll know why, lol

Hello, 2011!

2011-01-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

And good riddance, 2010!!

I am sure glad to see the end of the year, aren't you?

All in all, 2010 was a challenge for almost everyone I know. It seems everyone had some sort of ongoing crises or trouble, whether from losing or not being able to find a job, to losing homes and businesses, to family or health issues that were difficult and trying.

I don't need to recap the long list of follies passed by Congress and signed into law in 2010. Heck, I don't even have enough space on this blog to post the text of the bills! Since my focus is growing food in quantity, I was disheartened (to put it mildly) by the passage of S510. It is awaiting the President's signature right now, if it has not already been signed.

The masses, otherwise known as sheeple, have no idea how this is going to impact their lives and their ability to grow their own food. There are so many bad things contained within the bill, I think even supporters would be surprised. But with the broad powers handed over to the Secretary of Agriculture, I expect to see some very troubling regulations being mandated in the next two years.

Because of that, one of the first things I am planning on doing, is to start talking to local legislators and representatives about establishing Alaska's right to protect their own food supply. Vermont is already far ahead in this area, and perhaps Alaska could adopt something similar to this:

http://www.naturalnews.com/030827_food_sovereignty_Vermont.html Alaska is a sovereign state so I am hopeful I can get others on board with this idea and we can create a movement to rectify the federal governments' intrusion into the backyard gardens of homesteaders across the state. Food security should be a notable issue here anyway. It's a good article, and worth a few minutes of your time to read it, I promise.

Another item of my list of "must do" right away, is to revamp my existing website. I basically need to dump everything that is there, and then put up one suitable for the greenhouse business. Going hand in hand with that will be a FB and blog, and so forth. You can't get by these days with a simple phone listing, or an expensive (but seldom read) print ad campaign. I have some ideas in mind for this, and hopefully it will come to fruition sooner rather than later, lol

Other than that, we're doing pretty well here. We've had several days in a row of very warm temperatures for this area, which has made driving (or even walking and standing!) iffy at best in most areas. The chickens are thrilled to be let out of their coop, and the horses at the barn are getting a little spring snort to them.

Bad news on SB 510

2010-12-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

I really detest how Washington does "business" these days. From the 2100 page ObamaCare bill-with Speaker Nancy Pilosi's "We have to pass it know what's in it" sentiment, to tucking all sorts of stuff into other, necessary bills-such as funding requests.

So, SB 510 has been tucked into another bill-read the details here:

http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum1061.php

On the right side of the page is a form to fill out-simply fill it out and press submit, and the organization will send an email on your behalf, opposing the measure.

Please, please, take a minute to trounce this bill!!

The American Codex, part two

2010-12-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

To recap where I've been the last few posts-

SB 510 (even with the much ballyhooed Tester Amendment) will firmly place American agriculture under the jackboots of the Department of Homeland Security, the Food and Drug Administration, not to mention the monumental juggernaut of the US Dept of Agriculture.

No where does it address the failings of the safeguards currently on the books, by the way. It does not fund more inspectors, training for those inspectors, or even increase the frequency of them. The food processing industry as a whole, is pretty much free to police themselves, within the vast sea of regulations and permitting processes which manages to make about one visit every five years. Note that I stated "food processing", not food production.

Per the directives of the Codex Alimentarius (originating from the UN, and which the United States has adopted), all foods grown in the US will eventually be held to the same standard as the "global community". In theory, this is supposed to help with trade-but, many US products are not allowed into Europe or even China as it is now. The reasons are complex but include the current modern methods of intense agricultural production. Herbicides, pesticides, GMO plants, RoundUp Ready seed, etc, are part of what makes the US one of the "bread baskets" of the entire world.

But SB 510 is not just about trade. It is actually about control of the nation's food supply, disguised as "protecting" it.

The mandates it contains are frightening to anyone who thinking about getting into agriculture, even in a small way. Even my tiny business, which I had hoped to expand, would not be exempt. Never mind the $500,000 in gross sales and 275 mile geographical limits contained within the Tester Amendment. Nope, I get to jump through an incredible variety of regulations. Not only that, the USDA and FDA are handed unlimited powers to create any regulations they chose. They have a year to craft these, then impose them on America's family farms, from tiny niche organic producers to mega farms growing mono cultures. One language change within the bill, gives the Department of Homeland Security (Yes, DHS) the power to confiscate your LAND if they have "reason to believe" an outbreak of some sort has occurred, or that a threat to a food supply exists.

Not proof, mind you, but just a suspicion. Anyone who grows anything that ends up in the commercial food chain is subject to this. That includes U picks, and road stands if you didn't know. So, Pyrah's in the Butte falls under their control. So does Palmer Produce, and many other local farms, both large and small. And, even if they don't realize it yet, nearly every single forage producer is included also. Why? Because their forages do generally end up in our food supply. Hay and grain is grown which is fed to beef cattle which are then butchered which is then sold to the public, that's how.

The devil is in the details in that bill, and you cannot find this information easily. As soon as I relocated the correct link with all annotated pages, I will add it to this entry.

The promised link:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-510

The American Codex, part one.....

2010-12-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

As I said yesterday, here are some items which pertain to "The American Codex" and what it means for you-and me.

First, it helps to understand the meaning of the word "Codex". When you look up the definitions, you will see that most dictionaries will read something like this:

1. A manuscript volume of classic work or of the scriptures
2. Archaic. A code, a book of statutes.

Codex Alimentarius (Latin-meaning Food Law or Code) has come to mean something altogether different than one might suppose. I urge you to read this article from 2000:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/irrad/codexfaq.cfm This is short overview of the Codex and what it meant back in 2000.

Fast forward to 2010, and these links describe the Codex Alimentarius much more accurately:

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=155
http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/codex-alimentarius.html

Here is what the USDA has on their website about Codex Alimentarius:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/codex_alimentarius/index.asp

President Obama was rumored to have signed an executive order which basically agrees to global governance of our nation's food supply-from seeds, to the finished product in the store or on your table. While this is not exactly the case, we are handing off our food chain to multinational corporations and Agribiz, which will be enforced not just by the USDA, but the FDA and DHS. Yes, you read correctly-the Division of Homeland Security.

The American Codex, part two coming.......

The American Codex is nearly here

2010-12-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

(Hat tip to a good online friend who coined the phrase-thanks, OG!)

For this entry, something that is likely completely off your radar-although it should be dead center. But of course it is not, and unless and until the information is made public by the main stream media, you won't hear a peep about this.

Codex Alimentarius. My what a big, weird word to use, isn't it? Here is the Wiki entry on the phrase:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Alimentarius

Back the American version later on, here is my road to discovery if you care to read:

The US adoption of UN Agenda 21, and Codex, didn't seem like such a big deal at the time. In fact, I had not heard anything about either of those two things, until a good friend (and you know who you are) told me about them in relation to NAIS. Truthfully, I thought my friend was off her rocker, a crackpot, a paranoid extremist who was overly fearful of things that didn't matter to the average US citizen. She urged me to Google and read up on UN Agenda 21, NAIS, and CODEX on my own-and I am thankful that I did. When I realized the scope of NAIS (National Animal Identification System, as proposed by the USDA) I too, become upset and angry over what was an obvious move to inventory and track every single animal in the US. By chipping the animals, registering your property, and complying with the regulations, you ran a very real risk of subjecting your animals to the draconian actions of bureaucrats. Among many other things, the fines for noncompliance were astronomical and could have meant seizure of your records (including computors) and animals in your care. Luckily, this was eventually gutted due to strong opposition from the American cattle industry and a great many small farmers who would have been put out of business by the costs associated with the boondoggle.

When NAIS died, I thought-whew, close one! But my friend assured me that more trouble was coming...and boy was she right.

Presenting: SB 510. It has passed the Senate and now goes to the House to merge with their version, which is HB 2947. Once the differences are worked out it will then be presented to President Obama to sign into law. It is also known as the Food Safety Modernization Act.

Here is a link to the bill itself: http://thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.510:
And here is the text of the bill as it passed out of the Senate, it is a .pdf:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s510es.txt.pdf It does not, however, contain all the language of that particular bill, I am pretty sure you have to get that direct from committee. Or maybe it is available through your Senator or Representative-it's worth finding a complete copy.

While it is true that we in the US have had some serious illnesses that have made the news recently-it is also true that food borne illnesses have been on the decline for decades. Yes, we should have more inspections of processing facilities (that is a no brainer, right?) and on foods entering into the US from other countries. I think we can all agree that those are good goals.

So, thinking about the above, you should be quite surprised to find this little bit of text tucked within this bill:

".....AND IF ANY VIOLATION OF ANY PART OF THE S-510 IS FOUND OR IF THE EXEMPTED PRODUCER FAILS TO PRODUCE REQUIRED HACCP REORDS, THEY FACE FORFEITURE AND SEIZURE OF ANY AND ALL PRODUCTS AND EQUIPMENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LAND USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF SAID GOODS......"

Re-read carefully......any violation of ANY part of this bill, subjects you to seizure of your products and equipment as well as the land.

And just what does the FDA think about food supply? Well here is another shocker for you-a quote:

S510 would give FDA significantly more power to regulate food, particularly food in intrastate commerce. For those who think it’s a good idea to give FDA more power, here are the agency’s views on your freedom to obtain the foods of your choice; these are direct quotations from the agency’s response to a lawsuit the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund filed earlier this year challenging the interstate ban on raw milk for human consumption:

* "There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food." [A--p. 25]
* "There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds." [A--p. 26]
* "Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish." [A--p. 26]
* "There is no fundamental right to freedom of contract." [A--p. 27]

Read that one again too, the FDA is saying you have no right to food. Honest, it is. Give it another read and then you will agree, yep, that is what they are on the record as stating. In a court of law, mind you!

There's more trouble with this bill too. And you thought surely this was bad enough, right? Wrong! It's worse than you supposed when you started reading this.

Here's a few points to consider:

The FDA will have great power over the food production of the US. That includes partnering with DHS over any illness outbreak.

This bill gives the FDA to create any regulation it choses and to implement those regulations without oversight, review, or due process. These bureaucrats (not elected officials who can, in theory, be held accountable) can devise any set of regulations for anything, anything at all. Think that one through-what if the DMV was given the power to arbitrarily say: We will not accept red vehicles any longer and anyone who drives a Honda Civic over X miles a month will have their land confiscated. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? But the power that is given to this agency is immense in this bill....and no one seems to think it's risky? At least, not the 70 some Senators who voted in favor of this monstrosity thought it was a fine and dandy idea. That includes our two Senators from Alaska, btw.

Want to know what it cost to get their approval? (Gosh I just love the internet sometimes, haha)

First, the list of Senators who accepted money from those lobbying in favor of the bill (and the amount is about $50 million, btw)

http://www.naturalnews.com/030577_Senate_Bill_510_voting_record.html

And here are the break downs by vote:

http://maplight.org/us-congress/bill/111-s-510/880093/contributions-by-vote

Our two Senators were pretty cheap, weren't they? Begich: $22,300.00 Murkowski: $139,463 It says Murkowski did not vote, but I have read other lists that show that she did, in fact, vote for this. I am not sure what the real story is here, it may have to do with her re-election still not being settled as yet.

Now, defenders will point to the Tester Amendment as the solution to small producers. That amendment says that those folks who make less than $500,000 in sales, and who restrict thier sales to within 275 geographic miles are exempt from this bill. That is not quite true-you just have to read the language to understand that no one is exempt for the time being...here is another snippet:

ii) LIMITATION.— The exemptions or modifications under clause (i) shall not include an exemption from the requirement to register under section 415 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 350d), as amended by this Act, if applicable, and shall apply only to small businesses and very small businesses, as defined in the regulation promulgated under section 418(n) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (as added under 14 subsection (a)).

So, effectively, FDA registration is required for all, regardless of size. Perhaps deemed a minor point, but language is language, and is easy enough to copy and paste, properly.

Now, in my impression, here is the DOUBLE WHAMMY ... in the Amendment, the new "exemptions' DO NOT APPEAR TO TAKE PLACE IMMEDIATELY!:

EFFECTIVE DATES.—

(1) GENERAL RULE.—
The amendments made by this section shall take effect 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act.

2) FLEXIBILITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.—
Notwithstanding paragraph (1)—

(A) the amendments made by this section shall apply to a small business (as defined in the regulations promulgated under section 418(n) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (as added by this section)) beginning on the date that is 6 months after the effective date of such regulations;

and

(B) the amendments made by this section shall apply to a very small business (as defined in such regulations) beginning on the date that is 18 months after the effective date of such regulations.

Now, if I interpret that language correctly, ALL food suppliers / growers / marketers are subject to the "law" for at least 6 - 18 months ... and thus, well, screwed!!

More to come-and while you wait for that, have a read here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/030587_Senate_Bill_510_Food_Safety.html

Alaska politics-as low down and dirty

2010-11-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

as you might expect to find in Illinois, Louisiana, and Washington, DC itself.

I swear, it's enough to give anyone heartburn.....especially every one who is planning on voting!

First, Lisa Murkowski. Lisa refused all but one very short debate during her whole campaign in the primary. She spent a lot of time seemingly raising money, but not much responding to questions about her voting record. I know, I emailed about that record and did not get a response. In fact, whenever I have contact Senator Lisa Murkowski about anything, nothing meaningful ever resulted. The best I got was a "cut and paste" by some aide, which quoted the administration selling points. Period. I was feeling pretty much ignored as a constituent going into the race to begin with, and her behavior during the primary didn't help me get all "warm and fuzzy" either.

Then, Joe Miller. I had never heard of Joe Miller before, but I did manage to catch him on a local radio show one afternoon-and I thought-wow, this guy gets it! Smaller government, states' rights and responsibilities, rein in out of control spending, and so forth. The message resonated deeply with me, because I had come to the realization that the standard of living I have managed to provide my son, will never be enjoyed by his children or grandchildren. No matter what the pundits say, we are in a depression-it is just the printing of fiat that is slowing the slide. Once inflation takes hold, you'll all see what I mean.

Joe Miller beat out Lisa Murkowski, becoming the Republican nominee for the general election tomorrow. Lisa promptly went back on her promise to support the nominee (so disconnected from her constituency that she evidently decided she didn't need to work hard for the nomination) and announced a write in campaign.

Right about that time, the gloves came off. And boy has it been a bare knuckle slug fest since!

Neither of these candidates is without warts. Joe Miller has lied about fiddling with computers at work, and then got caught at it. People beat him up over farm subsidies he got on farmland in Kansas-foolish, since much farm property gets the same. I also heard >insert appropriate breathless outrage here< that his wife actually got unemployment! Oh noes! She worked, she got laid off, she collected unemployment bennies! Stop the presses! Oh my gawd, I was laughing, but feeling a little riled up over it. The whole mess came to light after the Murkowski campaign filed suit to open the Fairbanks North Star Borough personnel records belonging to Joe Miller. Interesting side note: The *retired* judge who said it was okay, was appointed by Lisa's father-former Governor Frank "The Bank" Murkowski. So this lingering question has not been addressed by anyone: Does a judge retain judicial powers after retiring? And if so, can anyone bring a matter to any retired judge on a weekend?

So things really heated up here the last week or so. Lisa is not answering questions at all....the standard MO she exhibited throughout the primary. She is now trying to snag the Democratic vote, and peel off as many Miller supporters as she can, however she can. Security hired by Joe Miller handcuffed someone who turned out to be a "member of the press" and that caused a huge uproar too. Both sides have been trading barbs back and forth and things are complicated with various groups buying air time. I am personally annoyed with the tone of a group calling itself "Alaskans Standing Together". Composed of primarily native corporations, this group has aired some very inflammatory ads against Joe Miller. These are now being met head on by ads from the TEA Party Express and the Republican committee.

Last Thursday, Alaska's number one talk radio host evidently ran afoul of "The powers that be" when he urged listeners to register as write in candidates in the senate race. A passionate conservative, Dan Fagan is wholeheartedly behind Joe Miller and makes no apologies for it. It was a moment of civil disobedience to some degree, with many people signing up in protest over an action taken by the Department of Elections and the Alaska Supreme Court's ruling on that matter. That they acted in direct conflict with the law, seems to have escaped them-but not, of course, the political powerhouse that is the Murkowski campaign.

Mr Fagan was punished (and his audience and advertisers, of course) when he was not allowed to host a Friday show. Speculation ran crazy, but it came to light the decision was reached when John Tracey, with Bradly Reed Communications, complained to the Morris Communications station managed that Dan Fagan was "electioneering". In short, Mr Tracey threatened the station. Mr Tracey represents a whole lot of advertising revenue for 750KFQD.....and Bradly Reed's highest profile client?

Why, it's Lisa Murkowski, of course.

Then the brown sticky stuff hit the oscillating object yet again, when an accidental call was made to a Joe Miller staffer. The recording seemed to prove that a CBS affiliate's reporters were looking for dirt on Joe Miller. It made the national press of course....and so it goes.

Now here we are, one day away from the election, and at least a few polls are showing that Miller has a substantial lead over Murkowski.

And what can a person take away from all this? That no candidate is squeaky clean. They all have their warts (including Democratic candidate Scott McAdams who has been basically ignored in his run for a senate seat by the press) and that none of them has a lock on the election.

But mostly I learned that the media here in Alaska, is no better than media any other place in the US these days-biased and with an agenda. I mean, I knew that the Anchorage Daily News is about as left leaning as they can get-they even scrub comments on their website-that's how little they have to do these days. The Alaska Dispatch isn't much better-most of their coverage consists of negative pieces about Joe Miller.

In the end, what has surprised me the most, was learning just how much juice Mr Tracey has to influence our state. He has stifled the most popular radio talk show host in the state with one phone call.......

What else has he done, or could he do, should he chose?

Today, no politics!

2010-10-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

(Even if our local races are reaching critical mass, lol)

Instead, a summary of the home front:

First, the firewood chore is basically done. All that is left is burning off the raked up branches, leaves, and bark bits left from all the splitting. Yay! Everything is neatly stacked under the woodshed, and it's a weight off the mind knowing it's there and ready. I fired up the wood stove in the house a couple weeks ago when we had morning temps into the lower 20s. Naturally, it has since warmed up into second "Indian Summer", ha! We've had at least a week of temperatures into the 40s during the day, and above freezing at night. I'm loving it :)

Second, my silly chickens. The replacement layers have really kicked into gear the past two weeks, it's great. The past three days have provided us with 5 eggs a day-not bad for just 8 laying hens! (Having typed that, I do have to comment that I am not positive I actually own a total of eight replacement layers-it's possible I could have a roo in there, I don't know! Buff Orpingtons are supposed to be very quiet birds and indeed they are-but does that include the roos too? Who knows!) My older hens have stopped laying and one is molting. Luckily I have someone waiting to take them....their culture highly prizes free ranging type chickens. So here in a few weeks they'll be caught up and *poof*, off they'll go. My Yokohama pair I am keeping. They are pretty small birds and don't eat much and if the rooster drives me crazy due to his crowing, I can forgive him since he's blind on one side. Poor thing. The Yokohama hen is a delight, easily picked up and cuddled and a big hit with all the children that visit us.

We've pulled a bunch of panels out of the arena, to make a small round pen for winter use. This allows us to plow all the way around the perimeter over the winter, and aids greatly at breakup in the spring. I've pulled the chicken wire fence from around the garden and next year, I will use some of the extra panels I have stashed out back-that should keep errant moose from snacking on my vegetables.

A few weeks back, a good friend lost their home to a house fire. So, we ended up with some extra vehicles parked down below that could not be accommodated anywhere else. By chance, they have since moved in to the area, and it will be nice to do some visiting back and forth over the winter. It prompted me to check my own insurance coverage and thank heavens, we're okay on that.

So right now, we are in a holding pattern, waiting for the first real snow fall of the season. If we can squeak out another week, I'll be pleased-I still don't have my studded tires on yet, lol

Summer was not quite over

2010-10-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

The weather goddess smiled upon us here in Alaska.....we were gifted with nearly two full weeks of sunny skies-once the fog burned off, that is.

Some hay was put up, but most was wrapped for cattle, meaning another year of tight supply for horse owners. I have had to switch to round bales-something I have not done in many years, but we have mostly figured out how to cope with those. Luckily, there are several farms that managed to put up very nice rounds....nearly everyone that had the equipment, used proprionic acid (not sure this is the correct spelling) this year due to the weather.

On the home front, the greenhouse is mucked out and those items stacked and stowed. The seemingly never ending chore of firewood is continuing...one of these days it will all be done too, I hope! Moved the stock tank under the barn roof and plugged in the stock tank heater-yes, we've had some upper 20s mornings already, brrr! Today I need to pick up some OTC asthma/allergy meds for the old fart, because he has developed a nasty cough.

The chicken coop got its light onto a timer, and the insulated water bowl is in and working. They are still free to roam but when it's windy and cold, they tend to stay in the coop itself. Consequently, I am figuring out how to manage that many birds in a small space, even though two are ready for someone's stew pot. I think I need another three or four laying boxes and things should settle out okay in there.

We had a big wind storm a week or so ago, lots of people lost power. Ours was only off for a few hours over one night, but we lost at least 15 trees. Some, which were healthy, middle aged birch, literally snapped off about 15 feet up :( When the winds died down, my hub went around with the chain saw and took down the leaners and the broken ones. So that is yet more "wood chores" to deal with, hopefully before the first serious snowfall. Naturally, it's laying all over in pick up stick piles, complete with branches, ugh.

Over this past weekend, I spent my time processing. First, my in-laws had this season's salmon to smoke and can. They did the brining at their place, and then it came to us for drying and smoking. Once that was done it was a simple matter of stuffing jars and processing for the required time. 53 pints for them, and they are very pleased with the results. The last batch in the canners I just supervised and let my SIL do the work-she has been helping for years, and is now about ready to go it alone, I think.

After that, I canned up a bunch of moose stew. The moose came from a family members' big bull, that we helped cut and wrap last week. They were going to toss out the neck bones, etc, and we snagged onto them and put them in the freezer instead ;) My hub took a bunch of bones out and tended to roasting them for hours. This rends out a lot of the fat, and imparts a nice, rich flavor. After that, the bones went into our two largest stock pots and they simmered for at least six hours. Then a quick chill and the next day I was able to skim off the remaining fats easily. We added the stew basics-spuds, carrots and onions and very little else. It tasted very very good before it even went into the quart jars :)

Following that, I processed some of the local spuds I had picked up to use with the stew-and still have more to get done. I think I am down to about two canner loads of spuds, plus the box of local apples I got given yesterday. Oh and let's not forget all the high bush cranberries that I need to make up into cranberry ketchup this coming weekend.....

Eventually, I will be done.

Right?

September summer

2010-09-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

After nearly seven weeks straight of cool, cloudy and very wet weather, Mother Nature has blessed us with a true Indian summer. Beautifully clear sunny skies during the day, down to near freezing at night. We've had plenty of fog to go along with this welcome change, and I've been fortunate that it burns off quickly at home every day. In fact, they are forecasting record breaking temperatures tomorrow, wow!

The greenhouse is mucked out so this weekend all that is left to do is to hose down the benches and floors-and then stack everything back inside. This time, I will make sure that the items I will need for next spring, are near at hand and easy to access.

An very large cow moose helped herself to my cabbages, so I only managed to get four smaller ones put away for the winter. I made one last pass through the garden and scrounged up another half dozen zucchini's, and then we let the chickens loose. Talk about some happy birds! Oh my goodness, they are everywhere, scratching, sun bathing, making holes in the dirt and so forth. They even come when I call, the older birds knowing my call means "goodies" and the younger pullets following along. It can be quite the sight to see nearly a dozen chickens come stampeding your direction, lol! On a related note, next year we'll set up horse panels around the garden to stave off any forays by the local moose.

We've gotten the majority of the firewood cut, split, and stacked already. Still a pile to split and stack and I hope to get after that this weekend in the afternoons. In the mornings, I have been out hunting. Yep, that fat old broad on the four wheeler with a rifle in one hand, that would be me ;) My hub went hunting too, upriver at a cabin for five days....no luck at that time. He'll be back in town for the closing days and one can always hope. In the meantime, there is me. I made a huge newby mistake last weekend, though. I totally forgot I had binoculars in my pocket, and passed by an opportunity to shoot because I couldn't see details. You can be sure I won't be making that mistake again, lol I have a hunting partner and I'll be out as many times as I can manage this weekend, no matter what. Sleep can come later, right?

The biggest fall chore (aside from firewood, of course) is done as well....we have processed all the salmon, yippee! This year we made a very mild smoke, it is positively yummy. It's a three day project from beginning to end, and I think my hub gets better and better every year. All I know is folks seem to really look forward to our salmon, including the relatives down south. It's nice to see the jars in the pantry, that's for sure.....but gosh it is a lot of work.

Back to the weather.....well, with this long sunny stretch, a person would think that getting up decent hay would be easy, right? Sorry to disappoint, but that is not the case. Instead, it takes longer than the normal time, due to heavy dew and low lying fog every morning. It's been very still so there have not been any winds to help dry the hay. But I am optimistic that we'll have horse hay, instead of being in a near crisis situation. Now I am not so stressed about where I am going to find hay, whew!

Last night I managed to get some berry picking in, and have enough high bush cranberries for at least one batch. High bush cranberries are pretty much a family effort, and all the berries end up with me so that I can make cranberry ketchup for us all. Another one of those "all day long" projects but the results are marvelously tangy and flavorful.

Get out and enjoy the sunshine, everyone!

Summer's end

2010-08-31T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well I sure haven't been putting much up here, since the advent of Facebook in my life. Shame on me, many people shun these social networking sites-and with pretty good reason. I have been very careful with interactions there for the most part, but I am finding it rather boring lately. I persist with Farmville (nope, no reason why, other than I want to finish what I started, haha) and to see what is going on with friends and family. I don't accept every friend request, or feel any desire to go out and get them, either. I'm pretty content with my own company anyway, and real life is much more rewarding.

As I watch the birch trees turn color (sans frost) every day, I am reminded that cycles of life are their own reward. The leaves changing means bare branches, which will lead to winters' wind, snow and cold. Which will give way to pussy willows and chickadees in the spring, along with breakup's challenges. And then the green arrives and we start all over again. There is something to be said for living where there are distinct seasons.

The vegetable gardening has been, frankly, crappy. Here we are at the end of August and I am just now getting green beans. End of August! I've quit watering in the greenhouse and have begun stripping what remains. So there are some mature ears of corn, ripening tomatoes, and a few cucumbers hanging on and that's it. I have three immature pumpkins still growing, which is amazing when I think about it. And of course I have plenty of large cabbages, dill, and the green beans to go. Once the garden is stripped, I will let the chickens loose-they'll get a few weeks to clean up whatever remains and I'll lock them back up for the winter when we get the first snows.

No local hay yet this year....the rain has caused either delayed harvest, or crops lost entirely. I am pretty sure this is going to be a very tight hay year, for all of us. I am still hopeful my favorite farmer will get up some dry hay-even if its not that great, my horse loves the stuff. So, no panic on my part as yet. Just hoping for a longish streak of dry weather sometime in the next couple of weeks.

On the horse front, there are big changes for us. Reba is now with a very talented teenager, for however long they chose. It seems to have turned into a really good match, although Reba-Roo has presented some serious challenges. During this, I discovered that I have been mislead about her "training". Ouch. Oh well, stuff happens and there will always be lessons to learn.

Now that fishing is wrapping up, hunting has commenced. Thus, I have barely seen my husband as he is off chasing the elusive legal bull moose. Personally, I'd be happy with a spike fork, but whichever-I am hopeful we'll have some tasty moose in the freezer this winter. So I'll forgive him if the salmon has not been smoked and processed yet, and the big pile of firewood still needs splitting.....getting a moose is priority one for the household this year :)

But that doesn't mean I have not been busy putting up a few things myself. In addition to all the berries I processed earlier this month, I have been picking our raspberry patch every couple of days. So far, I have four or five gallons in the freezer, with easily another gallon yet to ripen. Hopefully this coming weekend I will steal a few hours and go harvest a whole bunch of high bush cranberries. Have to have six pounds for each batch of cranberry ketchup and you'd think it's made of manna the way people want it, lol

I've also made four batches of zucchini relish-two of those will be on the spicy side with the addition of jalapeno and ancho peppers-yummy! I've got cauliflower and some broccoli also safely put up, but a moose got every brussel sprout plant-bless their little hearts. We'll miss having those gems to enjoy over the winter.

So this leads us on into September. Wow, where did summer GO?

For the science geeks!

2010-07-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Once you visit this link, you will want to bookmark it!

SolarIMG

http://solarimg.org/files/realtime/

This is a collection of real time images of our world: Sun, Earth, magnetosphere, particles, GOES satellite images of clouds and IR, and so on. The page refreshes every fifteen minutes. It even includes sea surface temperatures and jet stream forecasts too!

Wowza, my hats are off to the guys who put this together-you guys rock!

It's summer?

2010-07-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

I find it slightly ironic that today is the first day in about a month, that it is not actually raining. Or misting. Or just quit raining, or is sprinkling, coming down in buckets, or has low scud, fog and/or thick clouds.

This past month has just flat......sucked. The past week, the highs have been maybe 54 degrees at my place. A few days ago, I had a whopping 40 degrees overnight. Yes, just 40 degrees! What in heck has happened to summer here?

I mean, I know we do get the occasional summer season where it does tend to stay wet, but this is ridiculous! Last Sunday it rained so hard it stripped flowers off my hanging baskets, left huge puddles in low spots, and sent creeklets running down the driveway. Last night I had puddles in the sand at the arena, and not even the big dog would run and play in that slop. I have not had to refill the stock tanks for a couple weeks now-due to run off from the roof of the barn.

The greenhouse is suffering. The garden is suffering. And heaven knows my mood is suffering too. Bah humbug.

Dozens of green tomatoes, nothing ripe. The corn has stalled for about three weeks now, it needs heat to finish. I have had blossoms on the green beans in their too, for at least two weeks-again, no fruits. I've had aphid attacks on a couple peppers (first time!) despite keeping a fan going for good air circulation. I do have a pretty good crop of cucumbers, despite the lack of sun. None of the specialty melons are going to fruit, darn it. Way too late now, just not enough sun and heat.

In the veggie garden, things aren't much better. The cabbages and cauliflower are going great guns-and I do have some zucchini. In the other side I have green beans which have hardly any buds on them. The broccoli has sat at one size of head for about three weeks now and the brussel sprouts have stalled out also. Sigh. Big disappointment, for all my high hopes. A few days back I managed to get a hoop rigged up for the beans, but its been raining too hard to even try to get visqueen up and over it.

In the barn, the chickens are not flooded out-yet. They too, would appreciate some sun. I do give them a big armful of greens every day. The horses' feet are soft, and the pens are a mess with manure that's been very difficult to get picked up. It's pretty hard to talk yourself into mucking manure when the wheelbarrow sinks deeply into soft slay and mud.

Because of this awful weather pattern, very little hay has been put up locally. Its actually been a very good hay year due to the rain-we just haven't had four or five days in a row of dry weather for the process. I've been waiting on one hay farmer whose hay my horses do very well on....he called the other day, to let me know he hasn't been able to get anything up. I knew that, his weather has been no better than mine. A couple weeks ago I basically ran out of hay, and purchased a local round bale for the horses. It turned out to be very very bad in the center and was moldy enough it set the ponies to coughing something awful. This past week, I found a clean round bale, and they are very happy horses now-whinnying for meals.

On the up side of that, I can use the round bale for composting, now that I have a place picked out for that. Yes, it will mean some work, but in the end, having good compost will be a marvelous benefit for my continually growing gardens. But until then, may I say:

BRING ON THE SUN!!!

The big news

2010-07-19T17:17:00.001-07:00

Continues to be the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico. I have done so much reading, so much digging into various websites and technical data...I am overwhelmed with the knowledge I have gained.

First, the bestest website for real data, interpreted by oil industry professionals:

www.theoildrum.com

Just about anything you want to know about the Macondo 252 and Deepwater Horizon is there, plus detailed information about Q4000 and the many vessels and support operations in the GOM. Through the many discussions there, numerous wild claims have been patiently debunked, or proven true as the case may be. If you chose, you could pick up quite the layman's education in the technical aspects of fluid dynamics, mudding, casings, cements, and so on. It's a great site, their main focus is, of course, the slow slide down after Peak Oil.

In the first week, I caught a news report that cited that the well had a gas content of around 40%. I thought that was very high...and sure enough, it is. Usually content is in the 5% range for oil wells.

Since then, I have watched (along with just about everyone in America and millions more around the world) as events have unfolded. I have tried to reassure online friends who live along the Gulf that eventually Mother Nature will recover. I point out what happened up here in 89 with the Exxon Valdez as an example. It does not help one bit of course, to people whose entire lives are being wiped out a little more each day.

Weeks ago, I saw video showing oil seeping/leaking from the sea floor-not at the actual well head or BOP. Now of course, that has been admitted publicly. Here is where I think a couple of the real dangers lie, given what I have been able to ferret out from various sources:

First and foremost, the methane. Right now, the majority of that gas is held against the sea floor by the cold temperatures and pressures. How much is warmed enough to percolate through the ocean to the surface? No one knows for sure, but reports are alarming to say the least. There's been talk of a "methane explosion" for many weeks now, and I suppose it could happen. The oil and gas mixture, and the Corexit dispersant have surely created a toxic soup of nasties....many many people are sick. And of course, press is being shut out of this part of the story. Rather like their carefully planned photo ops with the press when a politician arrives with fanfare: The beaches are immaculately cleaned just prior to their arrival.

Secondly, the BOP is not maintaining the pressure that they had hoped for. This could mean several things, but the most likely reason is that the bore itself, or the drill stem, has been compromised. When they capped it, it will eventually find another outlet.....it could be the newly reported seeps, or another place. Some geologists have speculated that there could actually be a sea floor collapse, given the composition of the strata. The void created by the escaping gas/oil could create a "cavity" down hole for that scenario. Or the hydrocarbons could migrate to another area altogether, and work its way to the sea floor miles away. No one really knows.

I have heard some pretty wild numbers when it comes to the pressures down hole there, most of them bunk. Around 11,900 psi is the real number. Since I am curious sort, I asked my hub about well pressures up at Prudhoe Bay. I was surprised to discover that a number of the wells up there run in the 10 to 14,000 range. Very very dangerous pressures....even five pounds of pressure can kill someone, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong moment. I am suitably amazed at the technical expertise shown in coping with these pressures, and particularly the skill of the ROV operators.

Along with all of this, we have the Alaska situation, growing more grim by the day. You've been living under a rock if you don't think our economy is tanking here. Our Gov. Parnell shot himself in the foot last week when he refused to divulge the results of the open season for AGIA until after the elections. For, ahem, "logistical" reasons. Yeah sure, Sean, yew betcha. *choke gag*. What a load of hooey, it is our money at risk here, he should darn well release the information as soon as the season closes-about another two weeks.

Former Gov Palin's ACES plan continues to crimp development of our natural resources, and the Salazar moratorium on off shore drilling isn't helping matters. Did you know, a couple years ago that over a dozen exploratory wells were drilled up there? Last year, one. This year: None. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Since our idiot comissioner Tom Irwin choses not to allow permits, Shell's plans to go forward with exploration has been halted as well. It's not a good situation when you take into consideration that the amount of oil being shipped down the TAPS is dropping by four to six percent a year, every single year.

Also, BP is about to be pillaged. Most people think they have it coming, and they should pay and pay and pay. I don't necessarily disagree with those sentiments. They are planning on selling off some of their North Slope assets to Apache, another oil field company. BP has already laid off many many people up north (which is not making the local press of course) and their contracts are expiring without being renewed. This means, 100s of idle Slope workers just in time for the winter, which is seriously not good. If they sell off everything, the hats will change but I am still optomistic that operations will continue up there, regardless.

And with that, I will close for now.

2010-07-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

A few images from the garden....first, nasturtiums. Nasties are a bit of work in that you need to continue to dead head the older leaves constantly. I have found that the baskets tend to go through two different growth phases. The first growth which takes place inside a greenhouse, produces large leaves and the first shoots and flowers. After around six weeks or so, the older leaves die off, and then comes a rush of newer vines with smaller leaves-but just covered with flowers. Did you know that the blossoms are edible? Yes, they are a colorful addition to the summer plate and are slightly peppery. They also have a nice aroma and are usually covered with bees too. It's a good plant to have near a vegetable garden as it draws insects that will help with pollination.

Second is one of my all time favorites....a rather scarce pansy variety known as "Antique Shades" They may be old fashioned, but their muted colors still draw the eyes as easily as their more flashy cousins. With a relatively large bloom and bushy gowth habit, they are wonderful for garden containers-especially bowls. Like the nasturtiums, these are grown from seeds (they do not winter over here in Alaska) and are fairly difficult to germinate. I am happy if I get a 60% germination rate, and some years it is half that. The colors range from the pale peach pictured above, to a deep rose.

The last photo is of my raspberry patch. The location was one we picked in a hurry when I was gifted with these wonderful canes, and it seems to have been the "happy place" for them. They get plenty of sun in that spot, yet have a little shelter from the strong northeast winter winds. Last year I was sure I had a bumper crop, due to the amount of berries picked. Boy was I wrong! This year, the branches were loaded with blossoms and the bees were having a feast there. You could hear the bees buzzing from six or eight feet away-dozens working them for weeks on end. Now we have reached the point of unripe fruits which have weighed down the branches nearly to the ground in a couple spots. I have a hunch we'll be picking these every other day for a good long while, once they begin to ripen :)

Our summer that isn't

2010-07-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

After our scorching temperatures in May, the weather patterns have conspired to give us week after week of cloudy and cool days. Even in mid June, I had morning temps around 40, very cold even for Southcentral. About every ten days or so, we get a day, day and a half of mostly sunny skies and that's all we get.

Because of this, many hay farmers-especially to the west at Pt MacKenzie, have been unable to successfully put up horse quality hay. Farmers around Palmer have been more fortunate due to those reliable Valley winds and a bit of good luck due to geography and a little something called "weather shadow". That's a weather phenomenon where moisture from arriving lows get held on one side of a mountain range or another. In any case, those very few Palmer farms that got their hay up, have probably already sold out. I prefer to purchase hay from a particular farm up north, and while the cooler cloudy days have produced an incredible crop, the weather just has not cooperated to get it harvested. I got a round bale to tide me over and my two are happily enjoying nonstop nibbling for the time being.

All the clouds and rain have had mixed effects on the garden too, of course. I have lots of lettuce and other greens for example, but the green beans (loaded with buds too)and zucchini are very slow-not enough heat and sun for them. In fact, most veggies are running a couple weeks behind normal. In the greenhouse, I have plenty of green tomatoes, but nothing ripe as yet. We've been eating cucumbers for a while now, but even they need more heat and sun to really produce. The corn is showing silks on some stalks but there too, not as many as in other years-the shoots are there, just not up and full yet.

Last night I noticed that I have one baby pumpkin forming (yay!!) but the other winter squashes are just basically sitting there, not growing. From here on out, I will be planting all winter type squash under row cover, no exceptions. It's all a learning curve and I must remember that. Like the old saying goes: There are lean years, and there are bean years ;) Hopefully this will turn out to be a bean year!

Chicken wrangling

2010-07-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Nothing like chicken wrangling! This morning I found my smallest chick has somehow or other gotten out. She was happily rooting through the manure piles in the adjacent horse pen and chasing insects.

Yes, yes, I know it's good for them. And yes I don't really like having my chickens penned in the first place. The alternative would be to completely fence in my garden area (and several other beds too, plus block off the doors to my greenhouse) and somehow get netting over all of it. Which would have to be tall enough that a person could work in there too. There is just no feasible way to do this.

So I dropped the dog lead, asking him to stay, and attempted to herd the errant bird towards the gate. She was having nothing doing, of course, and allow me to state that chicks can be quick, very quick! I gave up after a few minutes, and returned to the house. She was caught by my son using our largest fishing net, and put back inside. Then we spent a few minutes attempting to figure out where she'd gotten out. Near as I can figure, she must have launched herself from the roof of the nest boxes mounted inside the chicken coop and right up and over the netting. We hastily made repairs and then we were off and running for the day. Bet you all know what I'll be doing over the weekend, right? Ayep, battening down the netting! Chickens are not that dumb, I don't think, lol

Yesterday evening we had some sun (yay!) and then today we have partly cloudy skies (yay yay!!) so this should help kick the garden and green house into gear. I may even have a cucumber to eat this weekend-over a foot long, I have been waiting for it to plump up. The lettuces have really taken off with this type of weather, so there is plenty to eat. My raspberries are just astounding this year. I have never seen so many buds and fruits (most still green of course) and you can readily hear the buzz of bees from six or eight feet away. Last night I saw easily three or four dozen, busily working the blossoms there.

Thanks to my talented SIL, I no longer have bees nests inside my greenhouse! Yippee! My SIL was a beekeeper in years past, so she knows behavior and habits pretty well. Anyhow, while I winced and ducked, she squashed the small nests for me. Two were empty and one had one single bee in it. We disposed of the papery remains, and so far, no new construction going on. She informed me that bees are typically absent during the daylight hours and its much safer to take the nests down when they are very small. The method won't work on a large nest, or when its cold and/or raining hard.

This upcoming three day weekend will mean extra time to get outside chores done. For example, weeding the vegetables. I have a bumper crop erupting from the holes in the black plastic mulch, so that is first on the list. The chickens will be thrilled to have the greens, I am sure-I've been giving them chick weed from around the lettuce, and they sure squabble over it :) The hardest part will be trying to figure out what is a beet, and what isn't....the carrots are pretty easy but the beets? I had to wait until they were a bit bigger first!

I have some baby zucchini coming along, the cabbage leaves have started to lay down, the cauliflower is about ready to head up, and the broccoli is getting taller every day. So despite this long string of cloudy and rainy skies, the garden is growing!

To dear mehh

2010-06-28T14:33:00.001-07:00

To the individual with the signature "mehh", who responded to a two year old post of mine yesterday (and who identified herself, no less) I have this to say:

You, my dear, are a potty mouth. As evidenced by your trash talk, it proves that the fruit did not fall far from your family tree. Thank heavens, there is quite enough of you to go around.

Allow me to acquaint you with the facts concerning the incident. I'll wait while you look up the big words, okay?

Ready?

Ok, here we go. The horse was boarded with me originally after the purchase. The horse was not "rescued" from AC by the owner. It was purchased from a private party locally. Horse arrived about a CS 3.5 (Please dear, do look up Henneke Condition Scoring and learn about it, it is a valuable tool for all horse owners) and proceeded to gain weight easily. Horse remained in my care for over a year, and left slightly overweight, sound, and blooming with good health. What reasons the owner had to leaving are not mine to question-an owner may do as they chose with their horses.

From my place she arrived at your family's "facility". Six months later, this is what I saw with my own eyes at AC:

Now, for educational purposes, here is the same horse just a couple of days ago:

Now, do tell everyone just how it is, that a robust, healthy horse can go from plump to skin and bones in your care? What defense can you possibly imagine would be effective? You claim you "fed grain three times a day".....I'd venture an opinion there, but the photos speak for themselves.

Explain for us, your mother dinning the owner for board, after the horse was impounded by AC. Instead of fessing up and letting the owner know she was in trouble, your mother lied, and lied, and then tried yet more lies with the AC officers. Do you think she has paid any of the many fines assessed by the court over the years?

And too, you did know that court matters are public record? And that anyone can look up anything about anyone?

But you know this quite well, don't you? After all, your mother has around 70 records in the local court. How is that eviction going for you, anyway?

Now, look again at the pictures.....notice a difference there?

And so it goes

2010-06-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

We're in full summer mode here, even if the weather is not very summer like. We've had quite the stretch of cool and cloudy days, punctuated with plenty of sprinkles. Sure cuts down on the watering the lawn and vegetable garden, but tends to bring me down with day after day of gloomy skies. I am sure we'll have a return to warmer temps and sun, eventually.

This year, we are tackling the firewood chore earlier than usual. The idea is to get it all cut, split and stacked before the silvers start running, lol To that end, my hard working husband has a large pile of logs already cut-and we've gotten the woodshed partly filled already. Tonight the plan is to split and stack as much as we can. After that, there is a pretty big pile of very gnarly looking stuff that has a fairly large diameter...I am pretty sure that once it's cut, I won't be able to even pick them up to get them on the splitter!

The garden is perking along, the only disappointments being the carrots and beets. I just have to plant those some other place because they just don't germinate or grow well there. I have plenty of bean plants up, and most everything is starting to get some size on it, thank heavens. A couple weeks ago, my son and I created a small bed out of some leftover material, and stuffed some greens in it-it's really taking off there and I am pleasantly surprised. Over the weekend, I realized I had about two flats' worth of miscellaneous veggies to do something with. Pretty danged small of course, from being in the flats so long. On a whim, I ran off to Home Depot and picked up some bagged mix. We put down a few inches of old horse manure and then topped it with the mix and stuffed way too many plants in there. If they live, great-if not, oh well. I couldn't bear to throw it all out, so anything that grows can be fed to the chickens. The new spot is where I intend to move some raspberries to next year anyway.

In the greenhouse, I have baby fruits-peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We just need some sun and warmth to really get it going. My one specialty basket of nasturtiums in there is doing very well-I can't wait until it gets a little bigger with more blooms so I can take a photo to share-very unique plant. Last weekend I finally got the greenhouse arranged and tidied up, which was a bit of a project in itself. Things tend to get pretty jumbled when you are potting up and planting like crazy :) Also over the weekend, I noted three honey bees actually inside the greenhouse, I was thrilled. And not so thrilled to find a wasps' nest there too. Not sure what to do about that, I think I'll leave that for my wonderful hub to deal with!

In between the gardening, we managed to get some red salmon in the freezer (yay!) and hub made some delicious smoked salmon to enjoy. He is very very good at making smoked fish, everyone loves it and it's gobbled up like candy. We tried making dog treats using the trimming from the fish (thin belly strips and etc) and it was a total failure. We'll try again I'm sure, but that was a big disappointment.

My replacement layers are getting some real size to them, my gosh they are getting big. Last night when I arrived home I found all the chickens out and about had a heart attack-you can't imagine how much damage chickens can do to a vegetable garden until you see it for yourself. I was fortunate they had not ranged far from the pen, yes indeed. It was a real Kaystone Kops episode, getting them penned back up-it took my son and I nearly a full hour. We did figure out where they'd made their escape and got that repaired easily enough. Silly birds, always something. The Yokohama hen has gone broody and we've given up trying to stop her-if she choses to sit on a few eggs and hatch a couple of chicks, so be it.

This week I hope to contact a few hay farmers, see how the crop is shaping up. Since we've had no rain at all in May here locally, I figure it's going to be a pretty late first cutting. Now the real question is, will my hay last until then? I am sure lots of local horse people are in the boat as I am, lol

It's slid into June already!

2010-06-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been a blur of busy, and then some!

Let's see, the new greenhouse was dismantled and is at home-in piles on pallets. We finally got a quote about moving the wood frame green house and that was way over our budget. So, on to plan B or C or whatever. My primary purpose immediately became: Get gardening anyway!

First, I had to get moved into the greenhouse. Which meant moving a whole bunch of stuff out that we stored in there over the winter. Once that was done it was transferring all the plants down there, and continuing with hardening off the outside things. I cut way back on the number of plants compared to last year, as it was pretty overwhelming, lol From 28 tomatoes to just a dozen. From 18 peppers to a dozen. And so forth. Everything is looking very healthy and I have buds or flowers on many plants already-yay! Heck even the green beans in the planters are trying to come up, imagine that :)

I managed to get my pumpkins into the ground last week-fully three weeks ahead of last year. The garden got rototilled, thanks to a very generous neighbor and he did a stellar job of it too. It was some kind of work, but the garden is planted, yay! More beans, less cabbage this time, haha. My neice came over and helped too, could not have done it without her help over the past weekend.

Last night, with yet more help from a neighbor and two extra boys, I finally got my chickens corraled up for the summer. The adults are not very happy with their jail, oh my. The baby chicks are no longer small-they are darn near the size of my Yokohama hen. And boy can they eat! They have food and water 24/7, even if that means I loose some to waste. The added bonus is that I will now be able to find the blasted eggs! We have found several stashes of eggs around the property and have had to toss them all out of course. Silly hens, I have that laying box for a reason, lol

So the lawn is looking pretty decent, and I am full on into summer mode. Water baskets and bowls at the house in the morning, water everything else after work, and using the tractor sprinkler every other evening.

Yep, summer is here! Complete with sunburns, skeeter bites, and assorted bees, wasps, and hornets ;)

Long time coming

2010-05-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking I should post another entry here on the blog...and instead, I get diverted onto something more pressing :)

It's been one heck of a spring so far!

When I left off, I was just gearing up to start the spring planting. Since then, over a hundred flats have been seeded, germinated, and subsequently delivered. I still have a few flats coming along, and then I will be able to dismantle the growing apparatus in the garage-maybe this weekend.

Inbetween the planting, I went on vacation. Yes, a real vacation! Took my son, and we went to California-we did Sea World, Disneyland, California Adventure Park and Universal Studios. We had an absolutely wonderful time, the weather was wonderful. Joey spent four days with his grandparents-getting to know his cousin Maykayla-and my sister and I scooted over to Vegas for some fun. Boy do I have some stories about Vegas, haha! I think the best part was seeing Terry Fator. If you ever have the opportunity to see his show-do it, you won't regret it. I laughed so much I about lost my voice, heehee

As usual, my sis came home about even or a little ahead, and I came home broke ;) That's okay, I had a ball walking through all those casino's I had only seen on television and movies. I bet I walked 35 or 40 miles on that vacation, easy. Never would have been able to do that, without my MIL's help in locating a shoe store in Riverside called San Antonio Shoes. Expensive but worth every penny when you can walk all day without your feet hurting! My sis took me to several stores she knew about-including Ross Dress for Less. I was a really overwhelmed after shopping our pitiful selections here in the Valley for umpteen years, lol

The food in Vegas is hit or miss. Gone are the super cheap buffets, and we discovered the food is much better in downtown Vegas (where the Fremont Experience and several casino's are located-well off the Strip) and slot machines much nicer. Next time, I think I would rather stay downtown. The Strip was packed with young adults that week, due to spring break and March Madness, it was just crazy full of basketball fans and rowdy folks partying hard and harder-just an amazing place.

Once home I returned the usual spring stuff. Breakup and all, lol Today should be the last day I have eight chicks in the garage-they are six weeks old now and well feathered-my replacement layers are Buff Orpington's which I got as day old chicks from the local hatchery.

The biggest news concerns the greenhouse. We'd been talking about this project for quite a while and heaven knows I have put a lot of effort into the research-but an opportunity presented itself locally....and we now own a new (to us) larger greenhouse! Yes, it had to be taken down and moved but that's done and it lays in piles down below. Adding this structure means we have to move just about everything, no kidding. First, we need to build new raised beds (asap!) and get my garden soils moved. This opens up the area for the wood frame greenhouse-which needs to be emptied and then moved (somehow!) up the hill and onto that flat spot. Once that is done, we can think about the dirt work necessary for the newer greenhouse. The only major thing that will need to be done (besides putting it back up of course) is running the gas line down there. I have plenty of power at the barn to run both houses so that is a plus.

Between the vacation and the new greenhouse and what needs doing, I am going to be pretty broke for a while-but it will all be worth it. I can't wait to get started :)

2010-02-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

There has been so much stuff going on over the past few months, I can barely keep up with the (dismal) news. There are a few bright spots, that can give even my normally pessimistic self a glimmer of hope:

The Kennedy spell was broken when a Republican won the seat. He was quickly confirmed by the Senate-and the results of that election are starting to ping through the Democratic party. Good, I say. I am not foolish enough to think that either party has "our best interests" at heart, but at least the voters back east were heard :)

Another bright note was the USDA scrapping plans for implementing NAIS. Yay! Double yay! Naturally, Sec. Vilsack (Agriculture Secretary) has all sorts of other plans in the works and those require careful vigilance from all of us who own livestock in a small way. Naturally, they still have not addressed the true food safety risks: the processing end by large agribiz. Watch for more regulations coming down the well greased (lobbyist) pike.

The Tea Party is gaining national recognition. Of course, the state media outlets would have you believe that the folks who are vocal about this, are a tiny fraction of the American voters. Um, not. There are millions whose voices are never heard over the clamor to praise the sitting President. I am hoping this is one instance where the tail is not going to wag to dog ;)

On Capital Hill, careful observers are seeing signs that the juggernaut of "my way (spend, spend, spend, spend us into collapse) or the highway" might be coming to an end. I can tell you that at least the Democratic Senator from Alaska, does not listen to his constituents whatsoever. He votes the Pelosi way in all things. I hope that when re-election time comes for him, people will remember what Sen Begich has *not* done for us. Thankfully, we have a loud and raucous talk radio presence here, and these guys are not going to let his misdeeds be swept under the rug. You know, stuff like the budget shortfall for Anchorage and so forth.

Just yesterday I was listening to a popular radio show on the way home. It seems that the Anchorage School District has asked 4th graders to go out and shovel snow to earn money for "school supplies". Another caller (a teacher) said that the budget for supplies was just a couple dollars a student. The Superintendent should be ashamed at this situation. 700 million dollar budget and they need to ask children to earn money for supplies??? Say what??? As a parent, I can tell you that you are given a listed or required supplies to purchase every fall. Filling those lists generally costs at least $75 per student, even with the big back to school sales. They bring to school paper, pens, pencils, scissors, glue, folders and notebooks and a variety of other items....WHY does the school need more supplies? And WHY are teachers digging into their own pockets too? Shame on you, Carol Comeau and the Anchorage School Board for not cutting administrative expenses! How about trimming some supervisory staff and getting paper and pencils into the classroom, eh? Or even better yet, stop hiring those taxis to shuffle kids from school to school every day-that would save several hundred thousand right there.

Things aren't much better in the MatSu School District either, unfortunately. If you aren't actively demanding performance from the staff, your student will be schlepped along without attention. As Anchorage does, the MatSu soon follows, so expect to see even more bloated school budgets in the coming years here :(

On the home front, I smell DIRT! Yippee, hooray!!! I have over two dozen flats started, with more to come shortly. We got a new plant starting rack and like it so well we are getting another one, haha Each rack holds at least 16 flats, so hopefully I won't end up too blasted crowded here in six weeks or so. I still have my work one of course, and plan to use that for a few specific items that take up a lot of rack space-like the sweet corn and squashes I think. In a few weeks, we will be setting up the table for the big light too, which should help. May even end up with a couple racks in the garage itself, time will tell.

The big P begins :)

2010-01-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow officially marks the beginning of the "Big Plant", or, as I think of it: It's time to smell dirt!

My seed orders arrived in good time, and I have spent a couple hours figuring out what to start when, and how much. I only made two small goofs-I accidentally ordered a quarter pound of one seed (yikes!!) and not enough of another. A friend was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to add items to their own plastics order, and I need to pick up that this weekend also. This will be a very nice savings over the local retail prices on cell packs and small pots-I'm thrilled!

In the morning, I will root around in the greenhouse and locate a number of trays. I need to start about two dozen flats, but only have room in the one grow rack for 16. The rest will come to work-these will be grown on for someone who specifically requested them.

In February, more things get started but the truly big plant is in March, and every ten days thereafter. My last plant date is going to be about the first week of May or so......by which time I should be organizing my own greenhouse for moving in.

I've also been gathering information about building another, larger greenhouse to expand my "veggie starts" enterprise. It's going slow, as I am still gathering quotes on various aspects and as soon as I have some of this together I will be working on a formal business plan.

In other news, our family grew by one yesterday. Brennan Josiah joined the extended family at about 4pm yesterday. Baby is very healthy, 6lbs, 12ozs and mom is going great also. My youngest niece could also give birth at any time....her due date is about three weeks away but the baby is fully mature :) Another boy to welcome into the world-I am delighted!

The big dog is doing great, and little Jethro still goes everywhere with me. Although, my car now reeks of "dog" and until it warms up enough to seriously clean it out, I am resorting to air fresheners, lol The cats are fat and bored and yowling to be let outside, and my chickies? My wonderful chickies gave me a whopping 23 eggs in ten days! They are obviously very happy in their winter digs. I credit the super duper custom feed that I get from a good neighbor for their amazing productivity. Still planning on ordering in some baby chicks this spring, to augment the flock. Eventually I will convert over to the other breed, since they are much more cold hardy than my layers now.

In the midst of all these normal events and plans, I am watching with dismay and concern what is happening in Washington DC. So far, Alaska has escaped the brunt of the depression to come-but it will surely arrive if the cronies in Juneau don't do something to correct the anti-business environment we have here. Please don't forget that they are our "employees" and take five minutes to email them with your concerns-whatever those may be. I have written off Senator Begich, since he is joined at the hip with the Democratic party and votes only the party line-even when it is in direct opposition to Alaskan interests :( Very sad. I will certainly remember when the time comes to chose a senator and I am betting a great many others will too.

The outlook is wonderful

2010-01-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

I'm not one to make bold resolutions, outrageous statements, or shout news to the rooftops-but this new year, things are looking pretty wonderful.

The household survived the minefeild of holiday stress relatively intact, and we moved into 2010 without fanfare on our part.

There are a number of things on the 2010 agenda.

My first order of business (after renewing business licensing of course, lol) will be to place my seed order for the coming season. I am having a ball going through the catalogs and websites, and sincerely wish I had tons more space to try all the things I would like to-I mean, come on, who wouldn't like to eat fresh melons right from the vine?

I am also gathering information and nailing down costs for another greenhouse. Yep, I am nuts, possibly certifiable too ;) But, it turns out I am pretty good at this growing thing, and I really really like doing it.

At some point this year, I will be gelding my stallion. He has spent too many years apart from companionship. No one wants to breed to him anyway. So we'll be discussing whether or not to breed the buff and pretty mare I have first, or just go ahead and do the deed. I have had a number of people contact me with the "someday" idea of breeding but the mares have never materialized and I don't expect they will. It's just cruel to keep him seperated from the mare, and is definitely not good for him mentally.

There is always work to do at home too, and that includes a whole bunch of gardening stuff. Like building real flower beds, and expanding the veggie garden and so on and so forth and truthfully-I am done with talking and will make it happen-husband approval and contribution or not ;) The cold frame will go up, the chicken coop located to permanent quarters and gosh darn it, we are going to pretty up the place. So there! (well, you know what I mean, lolol)

The outlook is indeed wonderful, simply because I have the resolve to make the changes I feel needed. Pretty simple, isn't it?

Now, if I can just drop 25 pounds.....;)

Traditions and passages

2009-12-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

The Christmas holiday season has always been a stressful one for me, for as long as I can remember.

My mother had the misfortune of being born on Christmas Eve, and she never let a one go by without letting us know how miserable she was about it too. She always had a rather pissy attitude about her birthday, although we all (us kids) went to a lot of effort to make sure that her birthday presents were special and wrapped appropriately in pretty birthday paper with beautiful cards. No matter what, she was never genuinely happy over the holiday and this set the stage for the rest of us to be miserable too-never mind the excitement of childhood. As it became a long standing tradition of my own to get my father one pair of bright red wool socks, one quart of malted milk balls, and one Old Spice soap, so too the tradition of feeling that no matter what I did, I could not please my mother. Both have passed away, my father in 87 and my mother in 98, but the tradition of stress and unhappiness lives on in all of their children, to some degree.

This year, I find my younger sister beyond stressed. She has a house overflowing with emotionally needy and manipulative adult children (and their assorted kids too), a demanding job, and the "let's all be miserable" legacy lingering on that our mother left. It has poisoned all of us, and in my sisters' case has caused her to try to do too much: buy too many presents, do too many things, be too many places, and try to please everyone while she does it. Its a recipe for holiday failure and I don't know that she will ever be able to get beyond it. Now, my sister is a happy person in general-always ready with a smile, a quip, and a laugh. She's very helpful and generous, it's just her nature to be upbeat and supportive, no matter the situation. So when ghosts of Christmas' past rise eerily in the background, she's too busy doing things to see that it infects her own state of mind. Because our own mother was never happy no matter what we did, it is easy to fall into the trap of more and more to compensate.

I should know, I did the same thing myself, for years, lol Now, I buy gifts for those I feel I need to, not "because" someone else thinks I should. If I am tight that year, I don't worry about not having a trinket wrapped under the tree nor a gift card for each person that walks through the door. Most of my friends know its just not my style to go overboard, too. Sometimes, I have the intention, but never find the time or have the extra cash on hand when I run across something I think a person would really enjoy. I would be just as pleased to hand out goodies from the many jars of this and that from my cupboard instead, actually.

I have many more friends online than I do locally. Somehow, it's easier to connect through the computor as opposed to real life which keeps me tied to this office full time. While they may be "cyber friends" the ties are real, and thus, when I hear that Connie D. has been moved into a nursing home due to the progression of her brain cancer, it concerns me. I know Connie will not be with us much longer, and that she is at the end stage of her life now. A published author, and great advocate for children and horses, her inability to interact with her online "family" has affected us all. We are all saddened by what it is to come, yet feel fortunate to have "known" her.

Today, I learned that another online friend passed away. Younger than me, Vicki G. had suffered numerous health issues for years. Yet, she was known as much for her love of all things angels, as she was for her work with rescuing horses and the Appaloosa Club of Ohio. I sat and had a good long bawl when I read the news. We are all shell shocked and sad, and we can't believe our own angel has left us. I remember calling Vicki when she was in the hospital a few years back, sweating out a heart ailment. Her voice was light and sweet and she was just as nice in person as she was online.

If you haven't figured it out, the purpose of this entry is to remind us all, that the true legacy we leave behind is the mark we leave on others' lives-for good or bad. You can either spread unhappiness, or rise above it-and the choice is yours.

For me, I resolve to rise above :)

The consequences of poor handling skills

2009-12-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

Today I am going to share a little story. It illustrates perfectly the real consequences of poor horse handling skills.

In general, I have found that most "problem" horses were made so by people. Perhaps the horse was not handled at all as a weanling and then introduced to the ways of man by force. Perhaps typical foal behaviors (which are perfectly natural for the species, but very dangerous for humans when they are adult) were encouraged, rather than reprimanded. That would be mouthing, nipping, kicking, rearing, plowing into people, etc.

Usually, these horses are pretty smart, and the lessons they learn-good or bad-become behaviors nearly impossible remedy. With some, it may only take one or two incidents and the horses learns: I throw a fit, and voila! I get my way. As an example, here is something we have all seen: A dog runs away from its owner. Owner is ticked off, and calls the dog. Dog knows the owner is angry by tone of voice, and is hesitant. Owner gets even more angry and eventually the dog gives in and comes. The owner promptly smacks the dog for not coming. What has this taught the dog? That if it comes when called, pain is the reward. There is a good lesson there, if only people will heed the consequences. Reprimands need to be instantaneous and fit the offense in each and every case.

Which brings me to today's entry. Seven years ago, I leased a marvelous Appaloosa mare. As part of the lease cost, I bred the owners' second mare for free. That mare was a gorgeous solid Appaloosa mare. Smart, moved like a dreamboat, and was also a ribbon winner at local shows. A truly nice nice mare, and well within my breeding criteria. The mare produced a stunning filly the following year, leggy, pretty Sully face, great shoulder and neck, etc. Leggy like her dam, but oh so pretty. The owner had some life changes and the filly was then sold on to a young gal.

This young gal was pretty confident in her training skills as she had some experience in the L48. A few years go by and I get a call about the filly (now a fully adult horse) and the gal is having problems getting the mare to move forward. I was thinking that was pretty odd, because as a rule most horses (while inherently lazy) will move out if you prompt them strongly enough. During the conversation I hear about some sort of incident between the mare and the owner's mother. No one is quite sure what happened, but the Mom ended up with fairly severe facial trauma. It's evident to me that any trust there between them-the horse, the girl, and her mother, is broken and there are probably other things happening with the horse as well. I suggested getting a professional assessment, because many times an outside, experienced person will pick up on things the daily handler might not see.

Then I don't here about the young mare for a year or so, until she starts popping up for sale on various websites. I email a couple of times, but do not get a response. I hear through the grapevine that the girls' family is having some sort of trouble during this period too, always stressful. Over a year ago, I learn from a friend that the mare has been taken to a local barn for try out, prior to sale. I am not sure what happens, but there is a small incident and the deal falls through as the horse does not have the training level the prospective purchasers were looking for. After that, she falls off my radar completely until last month.

Now, she is for sale for $700, negotiable to the right person.

For that low of a price, you know there has to be a hole there, right? And oh indeed there is, and a big one. I have not spoken to the current owners, but this is what I have learned: The mare has been allowed to get away with very dangerous behavior. Today, she is a serious danger to humans, even experienced handlers and wranglers. And most especially in family type situations.

No one recognized the dangerous behavior for what it was, when it happened. All it takes is a few times of getting away with something, and there you have it: A learned behvaior that only gets reinforced instead of reprimanded.

If you do not have the skills, or even the knowledge to recognize dangerous posturing or actions when they happen and correct them at once, you are doing yourself, and the horse no favors.

So here we have a young, sound, decently trained horse (seemingly excellent once haltered with a lead on) who will likely end up euthanized. She's 7 this year, a solid 15.2, pretty as can be, and oh so smart. So smart, she picked up the wrong lesson. It will likely cost her life. I know how I would cope with it, I even recommended that to a friend who looked at the mare. But the risks are very big, and she cannot come to my facility either.

I have run into a number of such horses over the years, and most things can be worked through with enough dedication and appropriate handling, coupled with judicious work and stabling arrangements. It all comes back to one of my own personal conclusions: A good equine citizen stands a very good chance at a long, healthy life. It is our duty as caretakers/owners/trainers/handlers to ensure that the horse has a future too.

Pretty soon, the rumor mill will churn out that it is entirely the stallion's fault that this happened (because people are oh so ignorant and blame the stallion for absolutely everything) and I will end up going to great pains to explain how this came to be, and why. Or I might take the easy way out this time, and simply say this:

It was a consequence of poor handling skills.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T09:04:00.001-08:00

I am so very thankful for the blessings in my life-

A wonderful husband
A smart, funny, good kid
Health and happiness
A great boss
Decent transportation
A nice house
Two fluffy spoiled rotten horses
Two spoiled rotten dogs
Two spoiled rotten cats (hmm, anyone see a pattern here? lol)
My brand new greenhouse
My bountiful garden plots whose harvest now fills my pantry
Wonderful, supportive friends
Great neighbors
Living here in Alaska
A quirky, spread out, loving family who is there "when the chips are down"

What more could anyone ask for?

I am more than blessed.

Brrr!

2009-11-17T10:28:00.001-08:00

Well, winter has arrived in full force. And then some!

I had taken last week off, and we got our first sizable snow fall during that week. Maybe five or six inches total, which wasn't too bad. Since we had the most wonderful fall, it was rather nice to see the change after all the dust from the big winds previously.

Now, we have cold. This morning it was -13 at my house, and it's -18 here at work. I moved stuff around in the shop and made space for my car inside-it does not have a block heater on it.

Boy am I feeding out a LOT of hay! Easy 30 plus pounds a day per horse, and I am very thankful I have as much local hay as I do. Warm mashes too, of course, but no blankets on either horses as they aren't shivering. I have them at hand of course, just in case.

My wonderful hub put the covers on the stock tanks, and rigged up a heat lamp for the chickies. He put a thermometer in the new coop, and even at these temps, it is staying about 18, 20 degrees inside. The chickies seem resigned to their jail, and have started laying eggs again now that the light is on a timer for 14 hours a day. I may need to drop the heat lamp down a bit, but for right now, it's warmer up on their perch than on the floor.

The poor big dog, he's having a heck of a time with the cold. I am only taking him out for a few minutes when he needs to go, but we are still letting him blow off steam in the arena every evening. Little Jethro is having trouble too, due to apparantly having frost bit his pads a little bit last winter. So I am watching them both very carefully and they are immediately rushed inside (or into my car) at the first sign of discomfort. Now that I am back at work, they are both sacking out on a spare horse blanket, with the heater blowing right on them, lol The floor is pretty cold since it's concrete with vinyl over it-I need to find a couple of crib sized mattresses-one for the office here, and one for home. Those would make good beds for the big dog.

Other than that, it's life as usual here. I have one hay van en route, and then that's it until after the first of the year for hay. I have been spending entirely too much time doing the hay and I need to cut it back some so I have time for other things-like my own horses!

I have been remiss!

2009-10-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Gosh it has been a while since I posted, I just realized.

I confess, I have joined Facebook. I am still figuring it out, of course, but have become enchanted with Farmville ;) Those of you who play, understand just how addictive it is, lol I can sure see the attraction with all the games and whatnot they have there.

On the home front, we are ready for snow. Our wonderful month of October, with warmer than average temperatures, has been a gift to us all. It's also helped give business a little boost too, with contractors still digging septics. I am thinking I will be taking part of my vacation here over the next couple of weeks, which means I will be on my own here at work for five months. Seriously not looking forward to that, I never do. It's nice having someone here, even if I don't talk to my driver nonstop all day. And it's nice not having to deal with deliveries too of course. Over the years I have gotten firmer about not making deliveries when road conditions are iffy at best, and most of my (whining all the way!) customers have come to accept this. Deliveries have always been at my discretion in the winter, but for years I put my life on the line for my regular guys, because I knew they depended on this service we provide. Over the last three or four years, with the explosive growth out here in the Valley, it just isn't as safe as it once was, and I have had a number of very close calls.

The horses are good, well fuzzed, and relatively happy. The chickens seem to have accepted their new jail (aka the new chicken coop) very well, although I am not getting eggs as yet. When my hub gets home, he needs to rig up the heat lamp and put everything on a timer. For right now, no heat and the light is on only about 12 hours a day-not enough for egg production.

I also made some changes in how I am handling the hay vans. People are getting very lax about picking up their hay in a timely manner and the extra time involved is becoming a problem on my end. When it takes six or seven weeks to completely pay off a van....well, it's way too long and it has to stop. So, that change takes place after the first of the year. I figured out that I have worked at something, every single weekend, for over four months now. And, I am spending two weekends getting hay offloaded for each van. Call me unreasonable, but it had to change. Everything else was suffering at home.

I also started writing. Yeah, yeah, I know, I am wordy enough-but this idea has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while, so I decided to just go ahead and start putting it down. The fictional story line is seemingly evolving on its own, and the words just tumble on out when I sit at the keyboard, so why not? I have a long way to go yet, of course, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

Still waiting on snow here, and this morning it was 20 degrees at home, under clear starry skies. A beautiful morning, actually, and it was great not to have to bundle up into winter boots and coat to feed, in October!

The work just never ends.....

2009-10-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

That about sums up how it has been for months now. Over the weekend, the salmon was processed, and BBQ sauce made, and the apples attended to as well. If not for the help of my good friend and my SIL, I don't know that I could have got it done. But we did, and I am beyond thankful for their assistance :) That's the last of the "big chores" for pressure canning for the year, yippee!

My hub has been very busy as well, sorting through items and straightening up for winter. He even spent some time cleaning up the barn for me yesterday-woohoo, he is a keeper, lol! He set the timers on the stock tanks after cleaning them, raked out stray hay, put tools away and so on. About all that remains is to shorten up the arena for winter snow plowing, which is a big chore. He'll give it one last drag and then it's a matter of a lot of tugging and pulling to make that a smaller diameter.

Horses are doing fairly well, all things considered. Reba had a small abrasion on one fetlock that ended up getting a minor infection. Five days of antibiotics and she is much improved, and is finally sound again, yay! She still has some thickened skin there at the front of the fetlock and I am not sure if its going away, ever. It does not bother her, but looks a little odd-time will tell. Still have no idea how she got the original boo boo of course, goofy girl!

My "load from hell" hay van is finally gone and another arrived on Friday. This looks much better and I sure hope people are better about picking up their hay this time around. It's getting harder to bite my tongue when I call people and let them know, and it's just not convenient for them to come any time soon-grrr! But I try to be accomodating because Lord knows I am busy too, lol

Speaking of hay, one person contacted me a full four months after they got their hay, to inform me they expected a refund or replacement on 19 bales of hay. Good lord, four months later they are telling me this? A phone call or email would have been nice-like right when they found a bad spot! I try really hard to replace hay people return, but this person did not keep any (or very many, I think) of the bales and seems to expect me to take their word for it and just replace or refund. Um, can't do that, I just can't. All replacement hay comes out of my own personal supply anyway, and I replace bales that are returned. Sometimes, I can resell the hay on to other people at a big loss for other stock, or bedding, or even just for mulch in gardens. I don't think even Animal Food Warehouse would just hand over cash either, lol So I am sure to get bashed around behind my back over this one too. Oh well, chit happens. I have spent way too many hours on a tractor not to understand that there is no such thing as perfect hay, period. I am going to politely suggest that they find hay elsewhere since this seems to be such an issue ;) I mean, it's not like I haven't tossed out many thousands of dollars worth of hay over the years. Who hasn't?

The big dog is doing pretty well. He is still having trouble accepting my hub when he comes home from the Slope, but aside from that, he is great at charming customers and mugging them for attention. A few times over the past month we have let him loose to blow off steam and I am telling you, that dog can run through thick black spruce like it isn't even there-incredible! Tremendous speed and agility, that dog has, easy ten or twelve foot strides bending around and through the trees. I have no doubt this dog could take down sizable game, if he had a mind to do it, and a human? Easy pickings. He is starting to show some protectiveness, and I am very careful how I handle that, as an aggressive big dog is not what I want or need, but one that will stand at my side and scare the poo out of folks? You bet!

So that's the story of my life, pretty much. Spending my weekends working at one thing or another, and the weekdays working for pay. I keep thinking I am going to have some time off, but it never happens, lol The hard work has its payoffs though, as the garden produce is completely processed and the big chore-the salmon-is done. A three day project in itself, the salmon-thaw, cut, brine, dry, smoke and then process. Best of all, the results are just wonderful this year. My hub is in charge of everything but the processing and he really outdid himself this year!

Heckuva couple of weeks

2009-10-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

As you can read from the obituary below, the family has suffered the loss of the matriarch....A sad event, but it has rewarded me with the opportunity to reconnect with family.

So a week or ten days was pretty much wrapped up, busy with out of town visitors and the nuts and bolts of personal effects and whatnot. Last Thursday, my MIL and her two sisters left for their homes in the L48, and I already miss them. I feel sad that it took Ruth's passing to bring everyone together, but I am fairly sure that is a common outcome these days-families are often spread across the US.

In between that, I had one empty van picked up, and another one dropped off. That too, has turned into a challenge when the hay was not suitable for a number of the purchasers. This has meant finding other buyers, and starting a list for a van to follow in November. There is already one ordered for October too of course. So far, I have managed to move nearly all the hay, but the weather is not co-operating very well with plenty of rain showers lately.

Add in that a new chicken coop is being built-which has taken way longer than it should have due to my miscommunication about materials. So there has been additional delay, all my fault. This morning I let the contractor know I needed to get the barn roof extended asap....it's just too blasted wet there at the barn for my liking. Besides, it has lead to some hoof issues that I can't seem to get a handle on since it's too wet and boggy.

Complicating things, the mare has turned up extremely lame. It has been narrowed down to what looks like a puncture wound on the fetlock, with swelling up the cannon. She is about impossible to handle since it's so sore, so I have called in professional help for this one. Hopefully I will know more about this later on today.

Still trying to get things canned up, but I find myself with little energy after attending to everything else. This weekend I will make a good stab at getting the spuds done up I hope.

It just dawned on me, I need to get new snow tires. Rats! LOL, oh well, studded tires are the way to go here, and I won't be without them :)

A small part of Alaska's history is gone....

2009-09-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ruth E Conard, lifelong Alaskan, died peacefully in her Wasilla home on September 21, 2009.

Ruth was born in Fairbanks on May 28, 1923, to James T and Helen Hutchison. While Ruth was the first born daughter, she arrived behind her older brother, James T, Jr. The other sisters and brothers that followed and lived included Marion Acord, Rose deLima, Geraldine Hutchison, Josephine Hoskins, Harold Hutchison and Harry Hutchison. Ruth has four daughters, Roxanne Lawrence, Vanita and Joy Keeling, and Dawn Durtsche, eight grand children, eight great-grand children, and five great-great grandchildren.
Ruth was one of a kind! She grew up in Fairbanks and lived the frontier life when chopping wood for the wood stove, hauling water for drinking, cooking, and baths was the norm. She helped care for the other children, and sold berries and pies, ironed and babysat to bring extra money into the family. She often talked about floating down the streets on wooden sidewalks when the Chena River would flood every year. She developed the sense of resourcefulness and strength that comes from living up north. She was a hardworker and could be counted on to jump in and help with any project. She truly had the old-time Alaskan Spirit!

Ruth possessed a sense for numbers and gravitated towards positions within office administration and accounting. She retired from the Virology Rabies Unit at UAF in 1988 and was a lifelong member of the Women’s Pioneer Auxiliary #8 and most recently, a member of Ninilchik Village Tribal Council. In her younger years, she was a member on several bowling teams. Throughout her life, she delighted in playing pinochle, cribbage, blackjack, and pulltabs with astoundingly good luck! She was also a crocheting and knitting machine, creating many afghans, doilies, and dolls in lighting speed which she generously gave to family members on a regular basis. She loved to dance and could jitterbug like nobody’s business!
She was ahead of her time in many ways. Ruth chose to be a single mother, applied and received her own credit cards, secured financing for her own trailer and several vehicles during the time when women didn’t live independently. Through her actions, she taught her daughters that it was okay to be independent women, using their minds and instincts to follow their own paths. She often would say, ‘You can be anything you want in this world.’
Ruth is survived by her sisters, Marion, Rose, Geraldine and Josephine; her daughters, Roxi, Nita, Joy and Dawn and three generations of children. Per her instructions, she requested no service; just cremation. Ruth will be placed in the family plot in Fairbanks.

--------------------------------------------------

The above is the obituary that the four daughters wrote, and the respect and loss shines through clearly. I did not know Ruth half as well as I should have, but I recall fondly our lengthy conversations about her life growing up in Fairbanks "back in the day". A strong willed woman of firm opinions, she was outspoken and resolute in her convictions. Other people might see it as stubborn, lol, but I saw it as an expression of her resolve and decisions. It amazed me, the number of people who she knew, was related to in some fashion, or had met or worked with over her long life.

She has left a great legacy, although she may have never known-to a person, her daughters are compassionate, strong, loving, self reliant, and independent. This may turn out to be her greatest achievement, I think. A more determined set of siblings you will never meet :)

Have a toddy on me, Ruth, and I hope to reconnect when it's my time.

Autumn's end

2009-09-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

Autumn is ending, marking the slow slide into dormancy for most things here. This morning, it was raining at home-this time, the rain was cool. By the time I arrived at work, I could see Termination Dust on the mountaintops-Pioneer Peak and the Chugach range, Hatcher's Pass and the Talkeetna Mountains, and of course, Lazy Mountain as well.

It's a bittersweet, yet expectant time of the year for me. I am sad the summer is officially over, yet excited to see the first snow flakes too. Usually, we don't see snow down here in the Valley until sometime around the middle of October-typically about the 12th.

Now is the mad scramble to get everything picked up and straightened up before snow. And what a scramble it is, I still have a list of things to tend before freeze up as usual. Although we have been blessed with a warmer than average fall, I know the cold is coming!

If the clouds lift, maybe I can get a picture today......

One of the best pay offs

2009-09-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

To living here in Alaska is all the wildlife we get to see. People from the Lesser 48 (sorry guys ;)) just don't have these opportunites.

The day started off with mixed foggy areas and low lying scud. If it weren't for the bright yellow and gold birch leaves, it surely would have been a gloomy day. We headed out early, north on the Parks Highway for a bit of an exploratory drive. We were blessed to see the following:

A mated pair of swans-
and their three cygnets from this year, not completely white as yet.
Numerous wild ducks and honestly about all I could tell is that there were three different kinds (I think?)
Eagles-one immature bird and an adult, who had lunch of some type in its beak.
A spruce hen-and I think I saw a few more moving in the brush, but this one was on the gravel road.
And of course ravens and camp robbers, that's a given.

On the way home this evening, we stumbled across a lost pheasant too, who had a gaggle (?) of camp robbers after it, as it scurried along the road in front of us. No doubt lost from someone's place, there was no way to catch it up with just the two of us-poor thing.

When you add in the cow and calf pairs of moose we've seen lately, and the fox I saw three mornings ago just a couple blocks from home-you could say, there is still wildlife to seen, here just an hours' drive out of Anchorage.

It's just grand, really it is. To see moose, bear, and other tracks right on your own property.....to see wild swans, ducks, geese, eagles and all the rest.

The capper of the day was heading over to give a neighbor a hand with butchering chickens, haha Sure got a lot left to do and I am probably going to be at that bright and early tomorrow as well.

Yep, the day was for the birds!

Some Wednesday funnies

2009-09-16T12:03:00.001-07:00

Here are a few websites, good for a giggle, belly laugh or outright squirm ;)

www.peopleofwalmart.com (A new favorite!)
www.icanhazcheezburger.com (The one and only LOLCats site!)
www.offthemark.com/dogs.htm (Canine humor!)
http://equerry.com/html/fun/eq_humor.htm (Horse humor)

Please feel free to add your own favorite humorous websites :)

Enjoy!

Homestead happenings

2009-09-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

Fall is well upon us, as I felt the nip in the air this morning on my way to the barn. In the dark, ha! Yes, it is dark even without clouds now when I do my morning barn chores. The big dog is sure looking around in the mornings too, so I am paying fairly close attention to him-he'll surely see or smell something long before I do :)

Friday evening when I got home, we let the chickens loose. Well, what we did was prop open the door for them. The garden has been harvested, and as long as the doors are closed on the greenhouse there isn't much for them to get into now. Saturday, I did not see them all, as it rained fairly heavy off and on all day. Yesterday, they were up near the barn and came running right over when I called. I was rather tickled that they 1) came at all, and 2) remembered where their old coop area was. I treated them to a handful of sweet feed because I like rewarding them that way. This morning I was happy to see that they had roosted at the barn-the three hens on the one stall wall, and for about two minutes I could not find the rooster at all....but eventually I spied him sitting on a pallet that was stood up on end-I figure he can't see well enough to fly up there into the rafters and boards with just the one eye. As usual, when he heard my voice he emitted his tiny chuckling coo. Happy birds, they are, with the run of the place. We'll probably loose whatever eggs are laid until we finagle a new chicken coop, unless the hens wander all the way down the hill to thier nesting boxes (possible, but not likely) for now.

Hunting season is in full swing, so my hub has been out trying for a moose. This means a combination of "road hunting" (driving around back roads with eyes peeled for bulls and trails) and getting out on the four wheeler, exploring. They've found a few likely spots which will be carefully hunted over the next couple of days. I am hoping for good luck as moose would be a welcome addition around home!

On the horse end, not much happening. The mare is still off now that the ground is saturated. However, we finally have level heels, and I am optomistic that time and exercise will encourage better, healthy growth for her hooves. I know that her coffin bone was at an angle when I got her, based upon the condition she arrived-and I also knew it was going to be a long slow recovery-I was just hopeful we would have had more correction by now. I am a little hamstrung with her, because I can't "feed her up" for hoof growth, as she is already on the line for being obese as it is, grr! No grain whatsoever and a measely 16 or 17 pounds of hay a day, and she's um, fluffy, to say the least ;) Basically she needs the poo worked out of her, day after day, but I am unable to do that working full time, darn it.

The old man is in very good spirits, and obviously happy to be back in his old stall and pen. On Saturday when we were working on stripping the greenhouse, he had wandered down to see what we were doing. Looking over the fence down into the greenhouse, he watched for a while and then walked back up, hand a roll, and trotted back to the fenceline. Where he promptly zapped himself on the fence! With a big snort and a shake of his head, he bolted back to his stall....it was funny! Not like he doesn't know the fence bites, the silly guy :)

The big dog is still unhappy with my hub being home. He is pretty "woofy" with men who come to the house anyway, and seems scared of my hub for the first week. That fear does not stop him from trying to worm his way onto the bed at night though! Funny how the dog is fine if my hub is reclining (in the recliner, or on the bed) but all twitterpated if he's standing? I have no idea what's up with that, but I do know that men wearing ball caps and anything red, tend to scare him. I presume this is something from his past-he is getting over the ball cap thing because so many men come to my office who wear them. The color red? Not so much. Just something to work through over time, we'll get there.

Saturday was the strip the greenhouse day. What should have taken a full days work, ended up going pretty quickly with my neice and her guy helping. My gosh I have a lot of green tomatoes! I sent them home with quite a bit of ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and a variety of peppers too. And, I have a half a dozen small sugar (pie type) pumpkins sitting on the bench in the greenhouse too. So I have a lot of pepper seeds to harvest and my chore today is to find a pile of newspaper and a bunch of boxes so I can get those tomatoes ripening off. Although just where to put them is the question....

I also put the pansy bowls in the greenhouse as I need to harvest seeds from them as well, antique shade pansy seeds are very expensive! Oh, and I *think* I have figured out where the seeds for broccoli grow on the plant! Well, not positive, but I think I found them.....after the plant flowers (which, by the way, are great to eat if you haven't tried them) the flowers will drop off and these thin little spiky looking things will remain. It looks for all the world like rather thick green cactus spines, but each of these has little lumps in it-I presume the seeds? So I picked a handful of those and they are in the garage, drying. Not quite sure how to open those pods but I am positive there are seeds in there :)

Which leads me to wonder: How do cabbages seed? Cauliflower? Brussel Sprouts? I have no idea, lol! I mean, I know they must, but since our season is so short, we never get to see the plant actually mature long enough I bet. Hmm, something interesting to look up on the net today :)

The end of the growing season

2009-09-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's the end of the season here. I've had several light frosts and have pulled everything from the vegetable garden except for one lone cauliflower and whatever is left of the carrots...which is bound to be very few since they were snacked on all summer long, lol

The greenhouse needs to be stripped, and this is going to be a large project indeed. I have numerous pots in there, and most of them still carry their fruits-tomatoes, peppers, corn and a few miscellaneous odds and ends. Nothing in there was harmed by those frosts, including my huge (and yet to be repotted) house plant, thank heavens. But, stripping and then emptying those pots is going to quite a lot of work. The tops will need to be put on the compost area, and the contents of the pots into my beginnings of another vegetable bed. Afterwards, I will top dress the area with the humified compost too. And, I need to pull the black plastic mulch off the garden proper as well-it will need to be hosed off, dried, and then put away until next year.

This weekend I will also tear into my tiny pumpkin patch, and see what is buried in the leaves there. I am pretty sure they could have used an extra three weeks for growth but I will be happy with whatever I find. I also have several plants still in pots that I will need to bury in order to winter over safely. Hopefully I will have plenty of leaves stockpiled for mulching as well.

The challenging part will be finding space for the produce that remains. I am basically jam packed in both freezers, and won't really have extra space in there until the salmon is processed-which should be sometime over the next two weeks or so. The tomatoes I will box and ripen off over the coming week or so, and hopefully by that time I will have a little space to freeze them.

This end of the season ritual is always very bittersweet for me. I know that snow and cold are not that far away, and I will be revisiting my memory frequently for the images I hold of that greenhouse......full of promising, growing plants.

Sore and sunburned!

2009-09-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

Had an absolutely marvelous day at the State Fair this year! An entire day to wander the grounds and check out all the booths in detail without hurrying, it was great. Nibbled our way through the food booths too, although by 4 pm there were getting to be lines in front of every one, lol It was very crowded by late afternoon, you could barely make your way through the throngs of people-and the people watching was pretty entertaining too!

Wonderful company, and I am sure glad we got there early so my son could get some rides in before it got too crowded-he managed to use up all his tickets before we left :) And eat an entire bag of cotton candy, ha! The only day of the year he is allowed to eat pretty much whatever he wants, I don't let him overdo candy at all at Hallowe'en or Christmas so this is a big treat. He is right on that cusp of bring part little boy and partly "almost teen" so there were a few rides he was not up to trying and a few favorites he just had to go through again.

My good friend who accompanied me, was very tired yesterday too....seems we just aren't used to umpteen miles over the course of a day any longer. Ran into a few friends here and there, and visited with our neighbors who have a booth for a few minutes. The only venue we didn't check out was the horse barns, just ran out of steam shortly after 7 pm as we were heading that direction. Found the Garlic Gourmay booth but it was too crowded to get inside to buy anything, which is just as well because we were hauling around enough goodies as it was! I mostly scored on some t shirts, but did not find a coffee cup this year-oh well. And I picked up some information on a number of rather interesting items too of course.

Did have some color on my arms yesterday, I was sure glad I wore a sleeveless top because it was flat out hot almost all day. The only relief was the occasional breeze that blessed the grounds-absolutely perfect day at the Fair!

The Fair weather, is fair!

2009-09-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a wonderful stretch of sunny weather we are enjoying!

For the first time I can remember, we've had more sunny days than rainy days, the entire length of the Alaska State Fair. Our marvelous summer has meant for some stupendous entries in the Giant Vegetable competition this year too....

Here's a couple of them, from memory-

Cabbages: 125.9 pounds. No that is not a typo! Busts the world record which has been held for 20 years.
Watermelon: 145 pounds and change. Seriously, I just cannot get my mind around a melon that size, and I can't wait to go see it, lol
Pumpkin: 374 pounds. Now that may not seem all that large to folks in the L48, until you consider this.....the seed for that plant was up April 1st! Wow, 374 pounds of growth in just under five months!!
Brussel Sprouts: Over 28 pounds. I can't imagine this one either, since I have some whoppers in my own garden but nothing even close to that size!

And there are some massive rutabaga's, kohlrabi and so forth.....Here's the URL to the Alaska State Fair website, where you can cruise the vegetable entries-

http://www.alaskastatefair.org/

I hope to get over to the Fair this weekend, spend some time gawking at the veggies, check out all the hand made items, the 4-H entries. Might even wander over to the horse arena, but maybe not. And, of course, eat!! Very expensive to eat this year, but I have a few favorites I hope to sample again-like the deep fried cheesecake for one ;) Incredibly delicious with a Kaladi Brothers mocha! Most of my time will be spent at the rides, as ten year old boys aren't too interested in hand crafts, haha I buy one coffee cup per year at the Fair, a tradition, so I will be checking all the pottery booths for just the right one. But you will never find me in line for that ejector seat ride by the purple gate-those people are nuts!

Closing the barn doors on meadow muffins

2009-09-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today, a departure from the normal entries.

Warning: This won't be polite, mundane and might even be unpleasant for some readers.

For the scum sucking snarkosauruses' who read here looking for dirt-go digging somewhere else. There are plenty of other targets you can surely back stab, lie about, conspire against, and relish hurting. There are more suckers you can bedazzle with bs into genuflecting at your tarnished throne, than there are people who can think for themselves. Barnum was right: There is a sucker born every minute. You have a good nose for finding them.

I've had it with the pettiness and outright viciousness and the put downs, attacks, slams and the lying. Is this how your mother raised you? Really? Is this how you treat people you do not even know? Feel pretty safe posting carp on CL, don't you? And oh so smart by using cutout email addies to send those hurtful emails too. Must be easy to focus on, I am such a big threat to you all. Right? Well, get over yourselves, all of you. I don't care what you think or say, I don't care what you post, and I don't care what you email. Talk between yourselves as much as you like, and keep feeding each others' paranoia.

Get a grip, you losers. I don't give a rats' about your business, your animals, or your lives and don't care to know about them either. I am plenty busy tending to real life, I don't need to delve into high school drama for entertainment. That's your venue, not mine.

For all of you who read the recent court documents (and you know who you are) I call you out as cowards, each and every one of you-for not having the courage to even pick up the phone and talk to me about it. Believed it all, didn't you? Or did you just "tsk tsk" and whisper between buddies and were just thankful it wasn't you? Whichever, your choice to whether or not to buy into fiction or hear the truth. But it sure shows your true colors, now doesn't it?

Just like there is no room for honesty in politics, there is no room for honesty in our pitiful excuse for a horse community. I am sick and tired of seeing people (not just myself)eviscerated publicly while the perpetrators get a free pass on their behavior by everyone else. And for those of you who just stood by in shock-thinking, oh geeze, not again-well shame on you for not helping to stamp out these behaviors. Every single one of us horse people know the "three second" rule when it comes to handling a 1000 pounds of unruly horse, yet none can seem to apply it to real life when it is most needed.

Your silence equals approval, even if you don't realize it.

So I am done. Just done. You win. The bullies have won the day, yippee skippy and all that. Rejoice, celebrate, whatever, I don't care.

Boarding was never a money maker and I seldom even made enough to pay the barn help-it always came out of my own pocket. So I am done with that, since the rest of you have oh so much better facilties and oh so much more experience and so on and so forth. I took a little pride in feeding a superior quality diet to the horses in my care, and am happy to say that each horse that left my care looked marvelous. It's some comfort, anyway.

Breeding? HA! What breeding? There is no breeding going on, never has been, not for me. Nope, I insisted on pre breeding exams, cultures, and a well conformed mare. Darn me for caring about the horses involved, instead of the greenbacks that empty uterous meant. So I may give it one more season and then that's it, done with that too.

The hay? Well, I think I will scale that back. When I have local hay producers backstabbing the hay I bring up (to sell more of their own carp, I presume?) well enough is enough. The regular customers I have are delighted to have this premium hay at a price they can live with.....I just won't bother promoting it much any longer. Whats the point? To be publicly labeled "nasty small time hay importer" by the local hag?

So that's it. I am taking a page from our former Governor, and quitting.

Y'all have fun now, ya hear?

What a weekend!

2009-08-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

Still tired enough that I am almost cross eyed, lol

I am happy to share that I got nearly everything on my mental "to do" list done. The only items that didn't get attention was starting on the final stripping of the garden-but that's okay, I am pretty sure we are going to be gifted with another week or so before frost. (Crosses fingers and toes!)

The really big chore of putting up the cauliflower is basically done-only one smaller head remains in the garden. I was just astounded at the size of these heads, a couple had to go well over eight pounds. Yes they were pretty gnarly looking, all split and purply, but the purple cooks out and the flavor is still great. I didn't do an actual count of it all, but some got sent home with my SIL, and some with my ever helpful friend, and I still have 19 family size packages in the freezer, wow!

Also completed over the weekend: My first try at making a pie filling. I have 7 quarts of apple pie filling done-and man are the jars pretty! Plus two quarts of apple slices in a light syrup in the pantry. With the aid of a food processor, I now have a double batch of sliced carrots done as well, a beautiful bright orange in the jars. Last year I sliced by hand which took forever and then some, not to mention the wear and tear on hands and wrists, lol A food processor is the way to go! Also did up the bell peppers-and I still have peppers to take out of the greenhouse too.

Yesterday was milk test for my neighbor, and she is busy too, trying to put up items from her own garden in between farm chores and the herding lessons. It can be pretty difficult to set aside six hours to deal with this stuff, for anyone. It worked out pretty well for me that the hay van does not get delivered until today, whew.

On a puzzling note, both my horses are off. The mare remains very flatfooted, and she is slow to develop depth-but the heels are nearly level now and the balance is finally where it should be-right on schedule at ten months after I got her. She had a big bar release this trim and I have a hunch that had contributed to her discomfort. Tonight I will move her over into the other stall, so she is off the large rocks for a week or so.

My big boy, I am not sure what's happened other than he has been standing in his stall due to the rainy weather. He is a little stocked up, so last night and this morning I have been feeding hay way out away from the stall-this gets him away from the muck at the stall entrance too. He has a bar on one hind that continually kind of grows over, and it just does not let loose on it's own for some reason. Anyway, this morning he is moving much better but it's obvious he's very stiff so he got started back on his joint sups last night. This week I will see about finding some liquid HA for him, that should help a bunch.

Also yesterday, my unlce John passed away. RIP, John Church. I had hoped to go see him this winter but it was not to be.

Stressful times

2009-08-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Seems I have a lot on my plate just now, and so do a great many other people I know. Everyone is busy and feeling under pressure-getting things done in preparation for the cold and snow to come primarily. But the number one topic creating stress these days seems to be created by Washington, DC. Between the partisan politics, the bail outs, the taxes, the bank failures, the health care plan, the numerous "czars", swine flu, the ballooning size of the deficit-people are feeling a little overwhelmed...to put it mildly.

Me too.

My son will probably never know a time in his life that mirrors the standard of living we have managed to provide today. My son, and his children (if any) will pay the price of these "emergency bailouts", and the face of America will not be the one we know today. It troubles me, the future that our President seems determined to forge for us. What used to be a slow trickle, has turned into an outright stripping of constitutional rights-the breadth of which is frightening. From the stiffling of dissent, to controlling each bite of food and every domestic animals witin the US, to subsidizing off shore drilling in other countries (as are hostage to oil imports with huge reserves of our own), and so on and so forth.

It boggles the mind, it truly does, and most people feel helpless to stop or alter the changes to come. People are busy trying to cope with the imploding economy, the bank failures, keeping the bills paid and food on the table and that is stressful enough, they don't have the energy to attend the circus that passes for government in DC. I know I hardly do myself.

I just feel a deep unease settling into my psyche.

While I am not generally pessimisstic by nature (never mind what my hub says, lol) I am overwhelmed watching these events unfold without representation. Heck, no one even reads the bills before they are voted on. It's not just the large bills that are pushed through in the middle of the night, there is actually no law requiring the bills even be read into the Congressional record-did you know that? It's true.

I am wondering when the bailout is coming for people who are working.

Another day, another drama

2009-08-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

The nameless, faceless drama on CL continues. A while back, it was over someone thanking people for helping during an emergency. This time, its nastiness being posted over another person asking for help.

I grant you, the local Craigslist is not really the place for these discussions, but it happens as it serves as a community bulletin board of a sort.

Most people are now afraid to post contact information, never mind their names if they are smart. I have heard all sorts of stories about threats, slams, and attacks being made via CL postings using the CL remailer-no wonder folks stay away. Over the past two years, things have really gone downhill on CL, which is why AlaskasList was created and flourishes.

I hope the person needing help, finds what they are looking for despite the responses. It's just unfortunate that they chose CL to go looking for it :(

Harvesting continues...

2009-08-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I worked my patootie off over the weekend. I always seem to end up with doing rather more than I have hours (or energy!) set aside to actually do them.

I am racking up a rather impressive list of foods which are now preserved or frozen for the winter's use:

A staggering 35 pints of zucchini relish. A favorite of our own, and a hit with relatives and friends, we enjoy sharing this specialty that cannot be purchased in a store. Sweet and slightly tangy, it makes the best tartar sauce when mixed with mayo, is wonderful in salads of all kinds, in deviled eggs, on burgers and dogs. There is always a jar in my fridge :)

At least 30 packages (family size) of broccoli-cleaned, blanched, drained and then vaccum sealed.

13 quarts of Atomic green beans (and more to come, lots of beans out there still!)

5 quarts of cucumber pickles

26 half pints (two batches) cranberry ketchup-an Alaskan favorite.

7 pints tomato sauce

14 pints plain green beans-processed of course

Still to come: More green beans, all the cauliflower, about half the peas, the brussel sprouts and of course, the cabbage. I have heard of a different way to make sauerkraut so I will be looking that up today to make sure it's feasible and a safe method. In the greenhouse I have lots of tomatoes ripening and we've been enjoying the sweet corn. The green beans in there (my back up planting, done very late) are nearly fully flowered and some plants have tiny beans on them. I will cross my fingers they mature before the first hard frost. I haven't even checked my pumpkins in about six weeks, so I am hopeful there will be a treasure or two in there at frost. And I am up to my eyeballs in zucchini. After three years of marginal yeild-if any!-I really overplanted them. Whoopsie! Several big items coming in the month ahead: Salmon-smoked and plain, plus carrots and maybe more spuds.

We've been sharing our wonderful bounty with neighbors, friends, and relatives.

And a very generous bounty it has been indeed. Thank you, [diety of your choice], for blessing this house and this family.

Is it August already?

2009-08-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

My gosh, where did summer go? Seems it was stuck in the mid 70s for a long time, and now we are sliding into the cool and rainy fall. I don't mind too much, the rain knocks down the bugs and this is the time I really gear up to put things away for winter.....

Firewood. Can't have too much firewood! We have a couple dump truck loads of logs to get sawn, split and stacked-that is a priority. I am very thankful we got the woodshed built, it's going to be much easier than dealing with tarps buried in snow and ice, lol

Garden. Can't let things go too long, so this weekend I will put the mature green beans and whatever else needs taking. I also need to do up a couple more batches of zucchini relish-which means a trip to the grocery store for more peppers. Bell peppers and hot peppers for the beans-the peppers in my greenhouse are not quite large enough to help with these two items, darn it! Although the Ace bell peppers have been marvelous in salads, yum!

Yard. Time to think about mulching my very few perennials, and get things put away for the season. I just need a few lengths of hose for the next two weeks or so, then they can be drained, taped into loops and hung up out of the way until next spring.

Chickens. We have decided to move the chickens into the barn for the winter, but instead of a basically open stall with little shelter, this time we will put together a smaller, well insulated house for them. We'll hang a real light and put that on a timer too, of course. I hope there is space to add a small fenced enclosure under the barn roof too. They definitey need a warmer place so this is another "must get done before the snow flies" item on the list. Speaking of the chickens, my one eyed rooster is faring very well now. His mate has turned off broody and I am just letting her sit when she wants. They are really chowing down on the garden plants and trimmings too, and seem to be doing great. Three hens, one to three eggs a day, lol

Horses. Fall is when I make an appointment for floats and exams. It will be a hefty bill this year, due to having another horse needing a float also, but it's worth every penny spent. This is when I discuss little things that I have observed, just to check on them. And I will be sure to ply my vet with goodies from the pantry, especially considering she dropped everything a couple weeks ago, to tend Sully. It turned out to be nasty bug bites, but the steroid shot did the trick :)

School. Yes, school time already, first day is this coming Monday for my son. He is very excited to go (remember when we felt that way?) and boy has it been a real struggle getting him registered. The state has passed this mandatory chicken pox thing...and it's turned into a real mess for a lot of parents-especially those who work full time. My son had the first shot, but got a medium case of chicken pox just over three years ago. All speckled up, itchy, fever, the works. I did the right thing any parent would do, and kept him home so he wouldn't infect anyone else. Bad move on my part, I did not have proof! So it was quite a scramble to get the vaccine because there wasn't enough to go around but I managed. When I went to register him, I heard from the nurse that about one quarter of the kids still had not gotten the shot so could not attend school. Boy is the first week of school going to be a mess! Anyway, new clothes are on hand, new shoes, and we have an entire (large!) box of supplies for the year too. Whew.

I did ask the nurse about the school's plans for an outbreak of H1N1, and I don't think they have a handle on what they are going to do, quite yet. A little disconcerting to me, since you would assume they'd know what do with health emergencies, right? Of more concern is my hub, given he works on the Slope. Those camps have stuff going around all the time, people come from all over the US and the world to work there and the conditions are very crowded in the camps themselves. All I can do is send along a LOT of Purell and hope for the best that his naturally excellent hygiene habits will suffice.

So I think I have quite a lot to keep me busy until the snow flies. Six weeks to go, maybe eight if we are very lucky!

Harvest commences!

2009-08-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Woohoo, it's that time of the year to get my garden produce put away for winter. This weekend I hope to try my hand at making pickles-thanks to some very productive cucumber plants in the greenhouse :) I have not made pickles myself so I am reading up on the process, and am going to try a method similar to my Atomic beans. It should work okay because I intend to slice the cucumbers into spears before I pack the jars. Luckily, I have all the ingredients on hand already.

Today I am taking the largest zucchini. I let a bunch of these go really big on purpose, as it takes four or five super big zucchini to make just one batch of zucchini relish. These will get peeled, deseeded, and then ground (10 cups a batch!) and brined over night. A very good friend is coming by on Sunday to give me a hand with these two chores. I will also need to inventory how many larger squashes I have coming on, so I can figure out how many batches I can make. Usually, three batches (over 20 pints) is just barely enough to get by for the year. If you haven't had the relish in my own version of tartar sauce (for deep fried halibut) you just have no idea what you are missing! Unbelievably great, seriously :)

(Edited to ad photo above-rather more squashes than I'll need, don't you think? lol!)

I might take some cabbage too, and do up some for sauerkrout. I could probably wait a couple more weeks on that, let the cabbages get a little bigger though. They are continuing to add more leaves and are on a slow grow-perfect for tight heads. The other day I noticed I have some baby pumpkins too-they came on way too late to mature to any size-only one is about canteloupe size right now. It's all a learning curve and next year I will get them planted a couple weeks earlier and build a better bed and hoop for them. If I can expand the size along the bank there, it would be a perfect spot for all the squashes.....but then I would end up with some very strange results as things cross pollinate, lol

I can't say enough good things about Susitna Organic's humified compost. That stuff is downright amazing, honest. Everyone who has used it, is raving about the results they are seeing. If you are a local Valley gardener, I urge you to give it a try-even if you have your own compost going. I have several bags sitting right by the garden....I will be putting that down this fall before freeze up, so it will begin working first thing next spring. It's absolutely gorgeous stuff and I wish I could afford an entire dump truck load-just to have it, lol!

Over the weekend, both horses will get some arena time-both for work and play. Amazing what a couple good rolls does their attitudes, lol Reba is coming along pretty well, all things considered. A couple days ago they both got moved back to normal digs and the mare about lost her little mind. I honestly had no idea she was so averse to change-and not being able to see the old man really rattled her. She spent about three solid hours being an idiot-bucking, running, spinning, rearing, you name it....goofy girl! She is all settled in now and at ease, but because of her insecurity, I am seriously considering moving her about every ten days or so, until she gets over being upset. I can't even imagine taking her from place to place, she'd be a wreck waiting to happen, lol But she is picking up the figure 8's on the lunge line really quick, she's a pretty smart girl ;)

Now that I have written out my "to do" list, it remains to be seen how much actually gets done!

___________________________________________________________________

A lot got done over the weekend, whew! Here is a picture I took this morning of the fruits of our labors yesterday. I could not have done this without the assistance of my good friend and sister in law-and as it was, I was up to nearly ten pm finishing the last batch. Ugh! But in a good way ;)

Yay! A little rain :)

2009-08-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

It was raining lightly at home last night, which allowed us to get into the garden safely (as in, no bees!) at last. We stripped the peas that were ready, and checked over everything else closely. I can see that next year, I sure need to grow more peas and carrots after watching my son munch away nonstop. At this rate, I won't have one decent sized carrot left in a 20 foot row ;)

Pulled a few more cucmbers, and have been reading up on making my own dill pickles. I have not made any on my own, but years ago I did help someone else, so I needed a refresher. Allow me to share a very nice resource for anyone who is intimidated by the thought of putting up produce:

www.pickyourown.org

There is a link on the right hand side of the page for canning and pickling. Easy to read and understand, this website provides solid information and step by step instructions on almost everything-and even includes what utinsels will be needed for each recipe.

I've had this one bookmarked for quite a while, and with Putting Food By and the Ball Blue Book I don't think there is much I can't process........still looking for a creamed soup one though!

Enjoy!

Stymied again, blast it!

2009-08-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

So, we have had this tremendously wonderful summer. Really we have, honest! Week after week of sunshine, hardly any thunderstorms, its been just great. The garden is fantastic and now is the time to start harvesting some of that produce.

We have been eating lettuce, cucumbers and zucchini for weeks. A while back, I took quite a bit of the broccoli and got that put up into the freezer-safely blanched and vaccum sealed. I have ripening tomatoes (and yes, some we have already enjoyed), peppers ready and the corn is setting ears like crazy in the greenhouse. The dill outside is ready to pull and hang for drying, and I could probably take the celery too. The cauliflower is busy setting heads, over softball size now and I know they will really come on in size in the next two weeks. I have blooms and baby green beans all over the three short bean rows, and the carrots are well up and getting some size too. Even the onions-which I have had miserable luck with, are actually making-well, onions! The peas are pretty much buried in weeds when they fell over in a heavy rain a week or so ago, but they are ready to strip also.

So the broccoli plants have tons of side shoots which are ready to harvest. Yesterday, my SIL came over and the plan was to take the broccoli and peas, and get it processed for the freezer. As it happens, yesterday was warm and sunny-would have been a perfect day to be upside down, rooting around in plants......except for one very big problem.

Bees.

I have bees everywhere. Not just honey bees, but hornets and wasps. They showed up about three weeks ago or so, and have been a problem since. We have located two very large nests and they have been zapped with bee killer. But it seems I have one or two? nests in the garden itself. Somewhere, probably right in the broccoli. My SIL is a former beekeeper, she knows her stuff when it comes to these creatures and could identify them for me....as I was not too sure which was which. It was quite unnerving to walk in the garden and see literally dozens of them buzzing around, right at plant level. We managed to get only three grocery bags worth cut, with me using the hose (and ice cold well water) to knock them down, while she cut as quick as she could.

But my gosh they were getting aggressive and would trail you a good 50 feet.....they are all over the garden! So we went down to the greenhouse and it seems they have set up shop down there too, although not so many. We took about ten pounds of cukes and some bell peppers and then we just gave up for the day.

So there you have it, stymied again-pfft! I will have to wait until a good soaking rain comes along so I can get in there and harvest what needs taking. I had left two broccoli heads to flower so that honey bees would come to the garden area for the green beans, zucchini, and peas. Now I am regretting that decision.

Funny thing is, I had no bees in my garden a week or ten days ago, except pollinators. So this must be a whole new hive that has taken up residence. Those wasps and hornets are pretty nasty tempered, and even though we did not get stung, neither of us wants to get close!

The $400 gelding

2009-07-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

I've been saying for a while now, that Alaska horse prices are starting to reflect the state of the economy....and this reality is troubling.

A while back, a person listed an Appaloosa gelding for sale on CL. A lot of horses get advertised there because it's free and has a big readership. This particular gelding generated some follow up posts, mostly about his condition. Which was not very good-but not life threatening by any means. Given the penchant for attacks on CL, I am pretty sure that some people felt compelled to contact the owner via email, in addition to some pretty nasty responses posted. The ad was eventually removed, but not before I had shown my husband his picture. $900 they wanted.

The immediate response from him was your basic "Hell, no! No more horses!" which I expected. But the sad expression, ribby/wormy appearance and lack of muscling stayed with me, in the back of my mind. I idly wondered about his future-did he find a caring new owner who would feed him properly? Or, was he still alive with the people who had him? I didn't know the answer until yesterday morning, when I saw the ad posted again.

This time, the price was dropped to $400, with the plea that they didn't want him to go to a dog musher.

Good heavens, that got me. I shot off an email around 8 am, asking where he was, that I had Appaloosas too, and a followup email which included my home phone number. I knew when I sent it, my husband would have a snit.....but also know exactly how soft he is about hungry horses, horses that just need good care and feed and timely hoof care and attention to blossom.

I checked email repeatedly throughout the day, took the phone with me everywhere I went, just in case.

No response. Nothing. Still nothing this morning.

Now, the $400 gelding won't leave my mind, as I wonder and worry.

Great, just great.....now what do I do?

2009-07-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have these chickens. I got them early last summer as young birds, not really knowing much about keeping chickens at all. It turned out I ended up with some Wyandotte's, which are now gone due to not very good "dispositions" to put it mildly. Then I have three easter eggers, Americauna, Aracauna-not sure which. Two hens and a rooster. And I got a pair of Yokohamas. Beautiful birds, fairly quiet and since they were hand raised, much friendlier than the other three.

So I managed to keep them all winter, including a couple stints in the garage when temps fell way too low. crowded into a wire dog crate. This spring, I picked up some used, lightweight dog kennel panels and there they have been since-an unhappy group because they'd much rather be loose as before. But, I couldn't have them in the garden, and finding them at the house a few times was getting to be a bit much. So off they went into chickie jail for the summer.

Everything went pretty well down there, until about two weeks ago. For a couple days I noticed the Yokohama rooster by itself, laying down in what I presumed was the dirt bath spot. Then, when it got real hot, I noticed he was panting a bit-but heck, they were drinking like crazy so I didn't give it much thought until I entered to find the poor Yokohama rooster trying to hide in one of the hen boxes.

I ended up lifting the water pan and he drank and drank, and I saw that his head was very bloody (and there was dried blood all over on the inside of the one box too) and his one eye looked very bad. Ok, he had to come out, period. So I managed that fairly easily with my son's help and back up to the garage and into the wire crate he went. He barely made a sound except for a soft chuckle for at least three days and I wasn't sure he would survive. I have no idea what you do to nurse chickens along, but apparantly he was a bit tougher than I thought, and he has recovered.

This weekend we let him loose at the barn, and I thought for sure we'd loose him for good. He is blind in one eye now-actually the entire eyeball seems to be missing. The feathers around his head and neck are growing back in, and his appetite seems great. But he did manage to make it down the hill to the other chickens which is where we found him last night. I put out some food and water and figured he would be gone this morning, lost and disoriented and off into the thick woods.

But nope, he came running right up to me at the barn this morning, chirping away. Found his way into the crate and began chowing down. When little Jethro trotted by him on his blind side, he did this little stright up leap into the air and gave a little squeak of surprise, then went right back to eating.

What am I going to do with a rooster that's blind in one eye? There is no way I can put him back in the coop with the other rooster. Who is not mean to humans, but I've been told that chickens can be pretty savage to other birds who are weak in anyway. This is a good natured bird you can pick up without a lot of fuss and much quieter too.

Great, just great....now what do I do?

Anybody??

The garden at midsummer

2009-07-17T06:41:00.001-07:00

The greenhouse-wow, look at that corn!!

Zucchini plants-lots of baby squashes and blooms in there somewhere :)

Lots of weeds, but everything has just exploded over the past three weeks!

Very happy cabbages!

It's been a superior summer for most of us who garden here. Three full weeks of nonstop sun are just the ticket for our fabled Alaskan vegetables :) No, I don't have anything growing that will warrant entry into the State Fair this year, but that's okay-I have already harvested some of the broccoli, there are zucchini ready to pick, and I have buds on the green beans. In the greenhouse I have been eating lettuce for weeks now, my tomato plants (admittedly small!) are loaded with green fruits and the peppers too. The corn is tasseled and I have ears fully silked as well, and my kid is bugging me already about when we can pick it ;)

(Edited to note: I have no idea why this entry is so long, I cannot seem to figure out how to trim this entry, sorry!)

(2nd edit: Thanks for the tip!)

One Alaskan's view of Sarah Palin

2009-07-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Which will mean less than a yellowed birch leaf on the first fall winds out of the Matanuska glacier-

I first met Sarah Palin when she was Mayor of the City of Wasilla. At that time, the City had some acreage they wanted to designate as recreational and there was some organized effort to attempt to get the City to recognize that horses (and the recreation involved with their ownership) had some place in city planning. I stood up and said my piece about horses (over several meetings)and the City-which probably sounded totally wacked to everyone else as I realized later. Yes, horse ownership generates a large amount of retail sales to local businesses, but that is not the same as being a revenue source for the city. Consequently, the city ignored horses, and livestock of any kind, in its planning.

You can't buy a sack of sweet feed or a bale of hay today within the city limits-but I digress. This is about one person's evolution only :)

After that, Sarah Palin was off my radar until the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission appointment came to light. Cool I thought, a local person whose politics I did not really know, got tagged for state office. Some months later comes the Randy Ruedrich issue, and SP's eventual resignation from the post-a superfluous one and a drain on the state budget, she said. Ruedrich eventually pays a fine of over ten grand for using state property for political reasons. RR was the GOP party chair here-and he remains in that position today.

When she announced her run for Alaska's highest office, she had an immediate base with people who were sick and tired of "politics as usual" and SP promised "open and transparent" governement and to get rid of the old boy network that bound Juneau tightly. Former Gov. Murkowski had been working with the oil companies to draft an agreement to build the gasline. But he did it behind closed doors and when the proposal came to light it included pretty much giving in to everything and tied the state to a 45 year tax structure. This, and other things Murkowski did (such as tell everyone to screw off and buying a jet for the state despite very strong opposition) paved the way into office for SP.

About this time, the oil companies began reporting record, stupendous profits, and SP trotted out ACES to the legislature. It passed with nearly unanimous support but leaves the state with the highest taxes in the world. Yes, I said the world. When this passed, I was upset since I knew that increased costs to produce and develop would hamper development-and it did.

The next big thing was AGIA. At first, I thought it might work, until I began to learn of the details of the thing. It too, passed with nearly unanimous support in Junean and is the framework that will lead to the open season next year. When the details of this deal came out, I thought-that is never going to work and why are we giving a foreign company half a billion of our state dollars? Now there is a competing project-The Denali Pipeline-different route than TransCanada proposes.

Somewhere along in there, Tom Irwin (Natural Resources Commissioner I think) threatened to pull the Exxon leases at Pt Thomson. Exxon had had the leases for 30 years and done nothing with them. Exxon now has just two leases there and when they attempted to do exploratory drilling on them, Irwin almost goofed that up as well.

Then of course there is Troopergate. My gosh I spent a lot of time online during that period. I don't go to that many online forums, but the amount of ludicrous accusations that made the rounds back then, was astounding. I listened and read and I learned-SP was not who I voted for. I mean, I knew it when the AGIA details came to light-but Troopergate, coupled with a huge increase in government for the state sealed it for me.

Then came the FBI and their corruption investigations. I watched SP turn on people whose support she welcomed previously. As the trials and convictions rolled on, it was like watching our state have a train wreck while SP seemingly gave away the state.

Then she was tapped for the GOP ticket. Wow. No need to go into all that here, but suffice to say that while I was thrilled it was an Alaskan, I was pretty sure SP should not be it. Of course we all know what happened....a great many outsiders think they know what happened too-and I still find myself straightening out screwball misconceptions about Alaska and our way of life here even today, here and there on the net.

Then she quit.

I have to tell you, I was very surprised. Then I became angry. Now I just want her, and her contentious adminstration to be gone. So that we can get some people into Juneau who have the backbone to correct some of these boondoggles-ACES and AGIA and come up with a comprehensive resource development plan that will see Alaska through the next generation or two.

So as the squabbling goes on over who will end up as Lt Governor, I just want her to be gone, off state payroll, go away....take the high school level drama some place else, and take your terrible, stupid spokesperson with you. Go learn how to speak in precise American english and while you are at it, take the time to look beyond your supporters' adulation and have a look at America's place in the world. Read something, hire better advisors, learn to stay on topic and do something about your propensity for verbal diarrhea-you sound ignorant when you cannot make a simple statement and stay on point.

Alaska has suffered enough.

Begone, do something useful and I don't care a bit if you make a pile of money doing it, considering what the msm has done to you. You are not the person I met when you were Mayor, and I don't like you or your behavior any longer. You have done enough harm to Alaska in your two years as our head of state-begone.

Okay, enough already!

2009-07-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, we have had how many weeks of nearly solid sun? Two and a half? Three?

Temperatures have been into the very high 70s to as much as high 80s at my place the entire time. Some mornings, I didn't even have any dew either. As I mentioned before, this has meant nearly nonstop effort to keep everything watered at home-lawn (tractor sprinkler and lots of hoses), baskets and bowls at the house (20 minutes morning and night), vegetable garden (oscillating sprinkler for a good hour, at least every day or every other day), greenhouse (keeping water barrels filled, using watering can-2 gallon size, at least 20 a day of those) and of course there are the stock tanks which need attention about every three days or so.

On top of that, we have over 70 wildfires going right now.....which means we also have smoke and haze from up north around Nenana-or drifting up from the Kenai Peninsula if the winds are right. Some days it has been so thick I have not been able to even make out Pioneer Peak from my office, and others there has been the acrid taste of wildfire on the tongue, bitter and nasty.

So this morning when it looked just plain hazy out, with skies a flat grey, I didn't think much of it-more smoke I thought. But nope, along about 6:15 when I was laying out the hoses for the tractor sprinkler, I saw what could only have been fog drifting through the trees. Sure enough, it was lifting up and down, wafting around and I thought:

Hooray! Its cloudy! We might get some rain!

Not. Not a sign of anything on radar at all, zero, zip, nada, nothing. It was nothing more than saturated air, which has now lifted to a low lying scud layer. It may burn off this afternoon, but likely not as it is still very humid.

I can't believe I was excited about the prospect of rain........but I was. A good soaking would lessen fire danger danger all over the state, help firefighters get a handle on the bigger ones, and wash the particulates suspended (prompting air quality alerts of course) out as well. And give me a break in the perpetual watering rounds I have been on for several weeks too.