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 :)

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

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

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

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

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!

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!