Everything and nothing!

That's the term I use when I am right at the moment spinning my wheels-lots of things going on, but it feels as though I am not really making progress.

First, Mt Redoubt. If you have been checking the Alaska Volcano Observatory website as much as I have, you will have noticed the two big spikes of activity on the webicorder yesterday. It's fascinating to get this hard data basically real time, isn't it? Of course, since we aren't geologists or volcanologists, or -ologists at all, we can't interpret the seismic activity we see. Even though they keep saying "has not erupted" it's still a little unnerving to see the unrest go on, day after day. When I see a wide solid band on that RSO webicorder.....well, it looks like an eruption to me, lol! On a good note, my son has quit pestering me with questions about the volcano. In his nine year old mind, volcanoes explode in a huge way (thank you, Hollywood) and the volcano is dangerous to us. He was reassured when I told him we would not be covered in lava ;) And then we spent some time on the AVO website, as a little education can provide a great deal of peace of mind.

Second, the relentless trumpets of the media, over the financial mess. Every day, some new bad thing, and every day, another story about the pork contained in the stimulus package. I am seriously disappointed that our new president is not showing much leadership. Saying that "if it doesn't pass, it will be worse than the Great Depression" is not very comforting, now isn't it? If the news would start reporting some of the more positive things going on, confidence would then increase dramatically. We need confidence because we have all been stung deeply by losses in our retirement and 401k portfolios. And do keep an eye on the legislation to be introduced to take that 401k money from you......while the big ruckus is the trillion dollar "stimulus" package, other, more nasty items are not getting the press they should. Hang on to your wallets, socialism is being shoved down our throats!

Third, the organic supplement. I have the recipe basically done, am just awaiting the final analysis. Once I have that, I can break it down into per ounce quanitities, and get that uploaded to the one local Yahoo! group that is most active. I posted about this yesterday, and did get quite a bit of response....another 20 people on board and I can swing this purchase. The biggest hurdle is shipping, of course. There just is no cheap way to get it from PA to Alaska, darn it.

Fourth, the horse end. Let's see. The Princess is slated to picked up this weekend, bound to a comfortable life of semi retirement in Fairbanks. Heated barn, mounds of shavings and little girls to dote over her-and how great is that? It is absolutely the best outcome I could imagine and I am delighted :)

Today, Lard Butt gets new digs and his life of leisure is over for the coming months. Of course I am stuck here at work, but I have confidence this will go relatively smoothly and that he will settle in just fine. I will have plenty of updates and photos over the coming months, don't worry!

On the weekend, I have a horse arriving for vacation boarding. Nope, no vacation for the horse, but the owners, lol I am sure she will settle in just fine since she is already on basically the same diet I already feed. So tonight we will shuffle things around just a bit in preparation for that, or maybe not. Just have to see how Reba handles Lard Butt being gone, first ;)

And of course let's not forget the gardening. I hemmed and hawed a long time about whether or not to get another HPS system, and finally decided to just make another rack like I have at home. It's basically a heavy duty shelving unit, with eight lights. Two shop light fixtures are hung over each shelf, which provides me space for four flats. I was also able to find some ProMix at a halfways reasonable price too, so I have a couple bales to get started. Last year I went through at least six bales, and fully expect to use ten this year with the additional starts I have been asked to provide. When I am complaining about tending these baby plants, and groaning over my sore back from filling flats, watering, turning, seeding, planting and transplanting...someone remind me why I do this, ok?

Almost one pallet of stall mats has a new home, which is great. Still haven't managed to get home my own, but hopefully one day next week. And the hay vans continue of course, as I am in the midst of collecting deposits on yet another one. After putting together the majority of my paperwork for taxes, I have figured out I need to revamp the way I keep track of things, lol from here on out, each van will have its own file!

And that is what I mean by "everything and nothing" :)