loose goats and shadow stuff

Hiked up to the Blue House twice today, the second time to free the goats who seemed contrite after a night penned in altogether (Sonrisa kicked out of the small shelter!). They are down here again and i think i've patched the gap in the fence they had made by the gate. The goats are goats, but some folks I know are really of an odd gene of human. Last night in the Earth hour darkness (not so dark as the moon is almost full), a friend called ranting about threats to the government, problems with cap and trade (power companies paying Al Gore's bank?)and other paranoid delusions too odd to enumerate. It was a very strange evening and I would have hung up sooner, being extremely turned off by tea party ideology, if I hadn't thought it an opportunity to hear what I usually avoid. It was his mention of "death panels" and "Obama's" birth certificate which jarred me into good-bye. Couldn't even get a word in. I'm certainly no fan of wall street, the "legit" casino...and I agree that most of congress is in the hands of pharmaceuticals, banks &/or oil/chemical corps. However, we desperately need universal health care in America; we need cap and trade to even begin to regulate air quality. I much prefer Michael Moore !

Mindy's white deer

well, you don't know what you saw right away: small group of deer - colored gray to tan except for the one in front who was smaller and white with brown spots! They were at the top of the Kegley's drive way - about 4 miles from my land where Mindy saw the white-with-brown-spots deer and told me of the sighting. I can still see it; and if i hadn't known of Mindy's story, I wouldn't have believed my eyes. Interesting to note how far the deer range.

chilly monday

It was warm on Saturday; but today after last nights over 1/2 inch of rain is chilly. Chilly, too, are my thoughts on Boucher's vote last night on the Health Care Bill (NO). I am already sick of his defense of the Coal industry, now this...Wish we had a strong real Democrat to run against him.

frog eggs

Not easy to see in this picture, but these goopy eggs are a favorite sign of spring - many salamanders will eat most of them - mercifully! I sense an inner nervousness today as Congress votes on the Health Care Bill (which is not much on "health" - but then neither is medicine as practiced in US which has little time for preventative care). Nonetheless we need to cover everyone and we need to begin to regulate the insurance industry and the drug companies...AND SOMEDAY WE NEED TO REALIZE THE OBVIOUS: OUR HEALTH AND THAT OF THE PLANET ARE BOUND TOGETHER! I wonder how many of the frogs in my pond have both female and male sexual organs?

major spring cleaning

Baldwin through Jason has managed to move/sell all of the broken machinery about this place, the coup de grace today was the '51 Chevy! The shop's new order is inspiring - soon to be transformed into a pottery work place if all proceeds as planned. Mindy and I bought onion sets, seed potatoes and lots of pansies this afternoon; Baldwin tilled up a row in the garden for me and i fenced off chickens to plant: mixed lettuce, spinach, arugula and onions. Chickens, of course, slipped under fence and out into yard by house - i finally corralled them...while the goats laughed! I've the goats again while Baldwin and all go to reunion of Ethiopian group in Austin. Thoughts of this past winter are slipping from my mind - easily under this blue blue sky.

chickens in the news

Chickens that are half male/half female were on the NPR news this morning - prompted into this perplexing split sexual state at the cellular level ; this news while i was sweeping up the spilled bird seed this morning. Interesting, i thought - do these chickens lay? Do they have any sense of their duplicity? What is self-awareness to a chicken?
How do we gauge self-awareness in chicken or man? Is it by actions or self disclosure? Humility?
Merely to realize our short comings or divergence from "normal" doesn't imply a change in those manifestations. We can apply makeup, attend self-improvement seminars, go to qigong, get liposuction or surgery, go to college, etc etc - and still manifest behavior that seems to have no awareness of the other(s).
It's not chickens that befuddle me; it's us. (I think i'm clucking up a blind alley...)

mostly kids

The sun like the pied piper brought out kids, hundreds, to the Lyric for the Barter Theatre's Billie Goat Gruff which the Friends of the Library brought to town - free. I was there to help and what fun to watch the interactions of the small ones - live theatre still has the power to capture the attention of the most restless among us. Came home and walked down to the river through swags of snow. Warm again tomorrow and the day after...................yippee

argh

I went to speak to a Tech class about homeopathy yesterday; the students seemed very interested in the subject. I just wish that i had not shared the time with someone else whom i thought would add more depth on the subject as he has much more experience than i. Arghhhh, he went on and on for 3/4 of the time about capitalism and pharmaceuticals (indeed, threats - but the students didn't need to be hammered). How can you rant about the horrors of our medical system with out FIRST showing the power of homeopathy - so that the audience can see a viable alternative??? may be a lesson for me.