Fannymanson

Sooooooo...

2011-03-21T13:32:00.002-05:00

Who wants to help me move all of this:

into here:

Anybody?

Where there is a stink of shit, there is a smell of being...

2011-02-27T09:11:00.005-06:00

There is a certain segment of the population that I call “Stinkers”. Stinkers are people who have a particularly foul aroma and seem to be completely oblivious to that fact. They are dirty and unkempt and for some reason, they all shop at my store.

Now I don’t know if being a Stinker goes along with being poor, uneducated, unemployed, elderly or having a developmental disability; but from the people I have encountered, these unfortunate circumstances appear to be contributing factors. It’s really such a shame, because I wonder how their lives would be different if they just gave some attention to basic hygiene.

The odor is sour, like dirty musty laundry. It may be coming from their infrequently changed underwear or the winter coat that was dragged out of the closet, full of last years stink. I’ve smelled oily hair from three feet away and gagged over the smell of bad breath, and its funkier cousin, chronic halitosis. One tiny little elderly man came shuffling in, wearing a dark blue velvet suit. He looked quite dapper, but upon closer analysis he reeked of cat urine.

I keep a small bottle of fragranced spray under the desk to clear the air after a Stinker leaves. I feel like a bad person for being so repulsed by these odors. After all, I’m sure they are a natural byproduct of life, but is it really so hard to take a bath, brush your teeth and wash your clothes?

Random Catching Up

2010-02-15T23:36:00.011-06:00

Since I moved back home with my family, I took a little break during the busy holiday season. I had full intentions of getting a job right way, but then there was snowstorm after snowstorm and there never seemed to be a good time to get out and job hunt. I reveled in each fresh blanket of snow; something about it absolutely enraptures me.

My car had been parked alongside the Morton building for about 2 weeks. Each time we scooped the driveway, the ridge of snow in front of it got bigger. Then right before my birthday, I decided to dig it out so that I could use it to go uptown to the local watering hole to commemorate the blessed event.

After a brisk 20 minutes of scooping, I was finally able to get to the car door. I figured I would start her up and let her run while I finished the job. Apparently the warm Missouri climate had spoiled Sadie and she didn't want to turn over in the chilly weather. I ended up borrowing mom's minivan for my birthday excursion instead. Over the next two days, my stepdad erected a shelter of sorts over the hood of my car. It was composed of plywood of various shapes and sizes, a tarp, cardboard and a baby swimming pool. Then he set up a heater and connected the battery charger and let it rejuvenate the engine. Eventually, she started and we were able to put her in the garage.

I finally got a job on February 1st. I drove Sadie to work the first 2 or 3 days. I had some trouble getting her started one day at lunch and then again that evening when I got off work. That night, on my way home, the air compressor went out (it hadn't worked right all summer either) and caused a terrible stink from under the hood. There is a turning part that decided to stop turning so the belt went over it and the friction was causing the belt to burn. I had the car looked at by our mechanic and he advised me that it wasn't worth fixing. The offending component was located under the engine and the cost of such a repair would be exorbitant.

Since that time, my parents have been really good sports about ushering me around. My stepdad drops me off in the morning and picks me up after work each day. Fortunately, we live only about a mile from the 'business district' aka 'uptown' aka 'the square'. I'm also lucky that my mother works about 2 blocks away and that we can go to lunch together nearly everyday.

William Woods Stables

2010-02-06T14:47:00.001-06:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Western Barn Tour

2010-02-02T23:41:00.011-06:00

This slideshow gives you a brief tour of the Western Barn at William Woods University. The barn houses about 40 horses in two aisles. A few of the horses are Hunter/Jumpers though because the stalls are larger and that allows the horses to be more comfortable.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

There are two tack rooms in this barn. The first tack room has most of the Western tack in it, with the exception of a few bridles. The other tack room has the Hunter/Jumper tack, as well as a bit and tack cleaning station. Winter sheets and blankets for the Western horses are also stored here in large Rubbermaid tubs during the summer.

Each horse has his or her own brush box. Each box contains a rubber curry, a hard brush, a medium brush, and a hoof pick, as well as the horse's protective equipment like bell boots, splint boots or polo wraps. The label on the brush box says the horse's name, what size girth to use, special handling information, and whether the horse needs a martingale. I always made sure there was a handful of peppermints in each of my horses boxes so that they could be rewarded for their good behavior. Brush boxes and their contents need to be cleaned on a regular basis.

Every horse gets meds and supplements with their evening feed. Keepers are responsible for measuring out their horses' meds into a labeled plastic sandwich box so that whoever is doing night chores just has to dump the meds in the feed boxes. Every horse on campus (157) got either a mineral or salt supplement and a probiotic supplement (Yea Sacc) every night. Other supplements and meds were given according to each horse's individual needs.

Riders are required to wash their bit and clean their tack after each ride. Riders are also responsible for cleaning the stall of the horse they rode that day. If a horse was being ridden twice that day, then the riding instructor or the teaching tech (instructor's assistant) would assign the rider to clean another horse's stall instead. The Keepers could call back a rider if the stall was not up to their standard of cleanliness or if the tack was not put away clean.

The school has a crew of 5 workmen who do two of the four daily hay drops. The crew also cleans all the stalls in two of the four barns each day, alternating between Western and Dressage or Hunter/Jumper and Saddleseat. They also drag the arenas twice a day and attend to various maintenance issues around the barns.

Return of the Dudley

2009-10-19T18:20:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,

Poor, sad, neglected little blog. I'm sorry friend. I have swept you under the rug until further notice. Today I am checking in only to hear your faint little heartbeat, barely a whisper.

As you know I am in my last semester of my senior year in college. That means I am busy and overburdened with homework. To complicate matters, I am assigned full care and responsibility for six horses at school. The combination is stressful and my life is out of balance. Only eight more weeks...

Furthermore, this semester has been rife with problems. I would much rather report a bright and sunny forecast than a dark and gloomy day, but it seems like the days are darker and gloomier than ever before. Mama always said "If you don't have anything nice to say..."

Dancy Dancy Underpantsy

2009-08-20T12:07:00.001-05:00

My New Schedule

2009-08-18T16:58:00.004-05:00

I have my schedule for fall semester all planned out. This semester, I am keeper of 6 horses in the western barn. I hope to get a digital camera so that I can take lots of photos to share with you.

My turnout time is 5am daily. This means I will need to leave the house no later than 4:30am to get to school and get my horses ready to go out on time. I will need to do a routine health check before they go out, taking note of anything out of the ordinary. Then I can remove their blankets and put boots on them before they go out. When they come in, I need to brush them off and hose their legs if they get dirty. If they happen to get sweaty from playing too hard, I'll also need to cool them out when they come in.

After that, I can come back home for a few hours to eat, sleep, and shower before my first class. On M/W/F I have Environmental Science and on T/Th I will need to feed my horses their lunch hay before I go to World Religions. Then I can come back home for lunch.

In the afternoon, I have an assortment of different classes, including my Environmental Science Lab, EQA Seminar, Equine Event Management, and Equine Management Practicum. I'm hoping that none of my classes are very homework intensive. I will be doing my work study in the art building again and that's a good opportunity to get homework done. I requested W/Th/F, but I was told that they are considering closing the building early on Friday nights. I'll find out more about that next week.

At 9pm every night, I will to go to the barn to do an evening health check and feed and water my horses one last time for the night. They also receive their meds and supplements and I must ensure that their stalls have been cleaned that day. On the nights that I'm doing work study, Amy will be feeding and watering my horses and tucking them in for the night. I will occasionally take care of her horses in exchange for this consideration.

I expect the first 2 weeks or so to be an intense adjustment period, but I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine. I will only get one weekend off the entire semester, so when I finish school this December, I will be ready for a nice Christmas break! After reviewing my schedule, I decided that now is not the time to take the job at Callaway Hills Stable, I believe I will be busy enough at school.

Decisions, Decisions

2009-08-12T08:26:00.006-05:00

My family is here this week for a visit. I'm thrilled to see them. They were slightly delayed by car trouble when they noticed that the air conditioning in their new minivan wasn't working. They stopped at the dealer and had it fixed, but that set them back by about 3 hours.

I received a phone call yesterday with an important job opportunity from Callaway Hills Stable. I applied there about a month ago as a groom but this is the first I've heard from them. They are a well-known saddle seat barn and it would be a wonderful chance to learn about a discipline other than western and dressage.

When I spoke to the trainer I told him that I felt comfortable with wraps and bandages, grooming and daily care activities, but that I haven't ever used a bustle to set a tail. He assured me that they would train me and I would get plenty of experience.

So here's my conundrum: I am a keeper at school this semester, which means that I am going to have a string of 8 to 10 horses to care for. This includes feeding, meds, turnout, grooming, clipping, blanketing, stalls and everything else imaginable. I'm worried that if I take this job, I won't have time for my other responsibilities and that I may have to quit after a short period. But if I don't take the job, I will lose a great opportunity to gain experience in a real employment setting, which would look great on my resume.

Just Let the Music Play

2009-08-08T05:59:00.016-05:00

The great thing about live music (in addition to the music) is that you get to travel and meet new people and strengthen bonds with your friends. It's a great release from stress and worry and it helps you see your place in the big picture a little more clearly. Plus you get some great stories to tell, I've included the short version of a few of my great stories.

Me, Danny, and Charles

I scoured through my ticket stubs to find the bands I have seen in concert. This list is not 100% complete because I don't have all the stubs and I know there are some that I forgot. This list does not include any of my favorite local bands like Floodplane, Interstellar Bus Stop, and Brother Trucker.

1. 35 Inch Mudder
2. Allman Brothers Band- $12 ticket, good seats,bikers on one side, yuppies on the other side
3. Alvin YoungBlood Hart
4. American Head Charge
5. Angelique Kidjo- Las Vegas show, West African singer, one of my favorites
6. Ani DiFranco- with Kristen!!
7. Arlo and Abe Guthrie- Love so many of Arlo's songs, great show, just missed meeting him in the elevator
8. Atomic Fireballs
9. Badlands
10. Beach Boys- I won these tickets, John Stamos was on drums
11. Beastie Boys- locked my keys in the car, broke out the window, then the effing battery was dead, traded a Subway sub card for a jump start
12. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
13. Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
14. Blake Shelton
15. Blind Boys of Alabama
16. Blue Band
17. Bob Dylan- 3x, once in Minneapolis with Crystal I wrote "How does it feel?" on a round rock and tried to give it to him, the closest I could get was to toss it at the foot of the stairs where they come off stage after the show, the security guard made us leave, but we snuck back in and the stone was GONE! I bet he found it and was like"Whoa!" ('Like a Rolling Stone', get it?)
18. Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman
19. Box Set- favorite song "Back in Amsterdam"
20. Bruce Hornsby

Tony Trischka, me, and Buddy Cage

21. Buddy Cage- one of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, at Quixote's in Aurora, CO
22. Buddy Guy- always comes out into the audience and sings right to you
23. Chicago- won the tickets w/ the Beach Boys
24. Chrome Seed Inhaler
25. Cowboy Mouth
26. Crosby, Stills and Nash- had an out of body experience, great show, floated in the rafters
27. Dark Star Orchestra

Captain and me

28. Dave Mathews Band- Vegas, with Captain, magical and memorable euphoria
29. Deadfront
30. Deftones
31. Derek Trucks Band
32. Dirty Dozen Brass Band- saw them many many times all over the country, made friends with the band, backstage passes and parties, excellent peeps
33. DJ Logic
34. Drums and Tuba- got schwasted, hit on the drummer
35. Dub Narcotic Sound System- funky and fun band, big phat bass, girl drummer/bassist
36. Evil Stig with Joan Jett- surviving members of the Gits Live, band formed after lead singer Mia Zapata was murdered
37. Femi Kuti
38. Full Devil Jacket
39. G Love and Special Sauce- sold out show, packed nuts to butts, no room to dance
40. Galactic
41. Goldfinger
42. Government Mule- 3x, met Warren through an over-enthusiastic introduction from one of my boys, awesome
43. Grateful Dead- 6x before Jerry died, projected up on the big screen dancin' with my friend Alex, long live the Dead!
44. Great White- some dude with a bloody lip asked for a drag off my smoke and I was like, "Ummm, no." WTF?
45. Hatebreed
46. Hot Tuna
47. Jive
48. John Wesley Harding
49. JoLynn Daniels
50. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
51. Jorma Kaukonan
52. Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe
53. Keller Williams- 3x, excellent an original musician, should not be missed, happy and fun shows

Leftover Salmon and Dirty Dozen Brass Band 12/31/00

54. Leftover Salmon- slamgrass, fun fun fun, gave Drew Emmitt a bracelet, I heart Drew Emmitt, he can play mandolin behind his head!
55. Lenny Kravitz- with Tom Petty, when he was new and had his single "Let Love Rule"
56. Leo Kottke- 2x, 12 string guitar, amazing soloist
57. Limp Bizkit
58. Little Feat- classic band, I stubbed 28 people into the show

Me and Los Lobos

59. Los Lobos- Caesar Chavez invited me backstage to party with them after the show
60. Lucinda Williams- she was a disaster, drunk and crying onstage, glad I didn't pay for the ticket
61. Macy Gray- good performance, unique voice, excellent backup singers
62. Mason Proffit- Love these guys, saw them early on during their comeback tour, the audience demanded more so they repeated the same set of songs to a giddy crowd, everyone was happy ('Two Hangmen hangin from a tree' was their most famous song)
63. Medulla Oblongata
64. Metallica- 3x, hurt my neck with all the headbangin'
65. Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box- my favorite drummer, Further Festival '96 & '97
66. Moe.
67. Molly Hatchet
68. Motley Crue- Tommy Lee in assless pants over the audience, clawed up some dudes arm in the parking lot for fuckin with my cousin
69. Mudvayne
70. My Scarlet life
71. Nashville Pussy
72. Nickle Creek- snuck in to the show and got thrown out, saw them again later and was worth the ticket price
73. Norah Jones- Sunday morning church at the first Bonnaroo
74. OAR- Of A Revolution- fun band, lots of talent, catchy songs
75. Painface
76. Phil Lesh and Friends
77. Phish- one of my all time favs, mind warping music, split open and melt
78. Poison- 2x
79. Rascal Flatts- took the girls I baby sat for, choked some dude and pushed him down the stairs for messing with the teenage girls in front of us
80. Ratdog- multiple shows, I met the band once in the alley before the show at the Paramount in Cedar Rapids, bitched about how far away I had to park and walk to the show, they opened with "Walkin Blues" and blew my mind, 2nd row orchestra pit
81. Reverend Horton Heat
82. Run DMC- with the Beastie Boys, felt privileged to see them perform
83. Rusted Root- 3x, shared a smoke with the lead singer, got free passes to a show in Madison, Wisconsin cuz he wanted to bone my friend
84. Sepultura
85. Sevendust
86. Sister Soleil
87. Slayer
88. Slipknot
89. Smakdab- chick singer, I had a girl crush on her
90. Smilin' Jack
91. Steve Miller Band- opened for the Grateful Dead
92. Sting- opened for the Grateful Dead
93. Stir Fried

String Cheese Incident and Widespread Panic at Sandstone

94. String Cheese Incident- multiple shows too many to count, excellent band
95. Susan Tedeschi
96. Tesla
97. That One Guy- plays the strangest instrument I've ever seen, quite a good performer
98. The Cult
99. The Flow- 8150 Club in Vail, bouncing dance floor, backstage party
100. The MacKenzies
101. The Nadas
102. The Urge
103. The Wailers- Bob Marley's backing band
104. Tom Petty- Full Moon Fever tour, he took Polaroids of the audience, a Knight in shining armor came to life onstage and chased him around, reeeally whisky drunk at the start of the show, sober by the end, saw some people gettin busy in the back, a strange guy came over and sat with us for a while cuz he was seat hoppin', security was like "Do you know him?" and we were like "Yeah!"
105. Tony Trishka- one of the best banjo players ever, met him and got his autograph
106. Trey Anastasio- wonderful musician, truly one of the most talented people alive today
107. Warrant- busted Jani Lane staring at me, then he smiled

JB on guitar, JoJo on Keys and Todd on Drums

108. Widespread Panic- favorite band, multiple shows too many to count, their music excites me quite a bit and massive amounts of good times have been had at their shows, got backstage at River Run in Keystone CO met Michael Houser, in front of Houser at his last show in Cedar Rapids, IA shortly before he passed, JB was the subject of many inappropriate thoughts
109. Yonder Mountain String Band
110. Ziggy Marley- good show, met Ziggy after the show and got his autograph on my ticket, but loaned it to a woman who never gave it back
111. Del McCoury
112. JoAnna Connor
113. The Black Crowes

Good News!

2009-08-08T05:55:00.004-05:00

My uncle is finally home and eating real food again! His dog was overjoyed to see him when he got home. Thanks to everyone who kept him and our family in your thoughts and prayers. If he is able to make a strong recovery, he may be able to go back to his career as a construction worker, so we are hoping for the best.

In hospitals there is no time off for good behavior.

2009-07-28T16:43:00.003-05:00

Clayton is not having an easy time recovering from his surgery.

It sounds like the surgery was botched and the doctor is not wanting to admit it. He said that the tube that connects to the urethra to reroute urine isn't sealed up or stitched tight enough and there is a leak. Fluids are draining into a couple of other bags too quickly and there's urine in there, but it's not supposed to be.

She said the nurses seem bitchy and inattentive to his needs and that they aren't noticing important details. They have to ask for them to change his bedding and bathe him. He has developed a rash on his backside from laying on sweaty sheets. Plus he needs help to walk around with his IV cart and they are not prompt about that either.

The hospital isn't willing to release information because they need a consent form signed, but they are not offering the form to be signed. The girls want to contact his insurance and get a second opinion.

Clayton has had trouble eating because his throat hurt from thrush. Then, he said he felt full and wasn't hungry. It turns out that he wasn't digesting properly and the food he did manage to eat was just sitting in his stomach. He vomited the undigested food and now he has to have a feeding tube.

His oxygen levels were too low so they put him on oxygen. Plus he has to have an IV for something and he is so skinny that they infiltrated the veins in both of his arms.

Mom said they ran an EKG and some other tests. Dani said those were the kind of tests that they typically run before surgery, so it sounds like maybe they are thinking about operating again to try to fix the urethra/tube connection.

Clayton is in a lot of pain and doesn't like to ask for the pain medication so the girls have to prompt him to ask. He also isn't sleeping very well because of the pain and his room is right near the nurses station where it's really busy most of the time. I think that they had to give him something to help him sleep too.

The insurance company wants to move him out of the hospital and into an extended care facility. This is troubling because after this week, there will be no one there to look out for his best interests and give him support. He also has concerns about taking care of his property. Things like feeding his cats and dog and keeping the lawn mowed and the trees watered. It looks like he is going to need help for some time to come.

Counterbalanced

2009-07-14T17:35:00.002-05:00

I haven't really mentioned this until my previous post. My uncle Clayton has bladder cancer and the surgery is tomorrow. We are all very concerned for him. My aunt and uncle are now in Texas to be with him during the procedure. Then at the end of the week, my mom and two of my aunts are going down to help him during his recovery. Then another aunt and uncle are going down the following week.

I am relieved that his chest x-rays and bone scan were clear. He has been a smoker for 40 years and I feared that the cancer may have spread further. He quit smoking as soon as he found out about the cancer and has changed to a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables. I am so thankful that I'm from a big family and that we are close. Without each other to help out during a crisis, things would be a lot worse.

There is also a chance that he may have esophageal cancer and prostrate cancer, but the doctor is taking it one step at a time. I have never been more worried in my life. Even when my grandmother was battling lymphoma, I didn't have this much anxiety. I was in my early 20's and had no real grasp on mortality, and when she passed I was devastated.

I got my wake up call about 6 years ago when I had horrible chest pain and suffered difficulty breathing. Doctors found a mass in my chest, located between my heart and lungs. They outlined a procedure in which they would biopsy the mass by sawing away part of my sternum and partially deflating one of my lungs to gain access to the mass.

During that experience, I suffered intense anxiety attacks and depression. I was virtually inconsolable. I opted not to go through with the procedure and ignore it completely. I felt like I had to get back to a state of normalcy, but it permanently altered the way in which I process my experiences emotionally. Everything seems more profound and I am easily upset. I cry more frequently than I ever did before. I don't even try to suppress it because letting it out feels better than holding it in.

So today I am consumed with conflicting emotions about my uncle's health. I'm worried about the procedure itself, the extent of the disease, and the impact on his daily life. I'm relieved that the family will be there for him and that his bone scan and chest x-rays were clean. I'm also thankful that he has taken it upon himself to turn a corner and live a more healthy lifestyle from here on out.

Refreshing Newness

2009-07-13T09:39:00.003-05:00

I decided to jazz up my blog today. I'm in the process of restoring links and updating stuff, so if you're looking for something that was there but isn't anymore... just be patient. I'll get to it, but for right now, just enjoy the refreshing newness!

Boo

2009-07-09T23:28:00.003-05:00

I think I might be spiralling downward into the depths of depression. This summer is sucking in a major way for me and it show no signs of improving.

I'm having trouble finding a summer job
My sleep schedule is completely reversed
I haven't had any real exposure to sunlight in weeks
I miss my friends
I miss my family
My uncle has very serious cancer
I can't pay my bills or afford simple necessities
I have no social life at all
I'm sad and stressed out

So if my blog seems neglected, it's simply because I have nothing to say. I'm lucky to even be out of bed, showered and dressed...

WTF???

2009-06-23T18:00:00.002-05:00

So there I was...innocently Googling "Rainbows and Unicorns" and I found THIS:

WTF???

Business Law Woes

2009-06-19T13:29:00.003-05:00

I just finished my Business Law course so summer school is officially over. It was a writing intensive online course which required a lot of research on the Internet to supplement the textbook.

The professor didn't execute the course to the best of her ability. There were several mistakes on the syllabus. For example, she said there were 4 online forums that we had to participate in. This was mentioned in both the course description and on the schedule, but when I looked online, there were actually 6. I asked her if we were just supposed to choose 4 and do those, but she said no, we had to do them all.

There was also a mistake in the chapter 9 assignments. The syllabus said to do question number 5, which I did, but when I went to the website to upload it, the instructions said to do question 9! So I emailed her to ask what I should do, because the syllabus and the website were conflicting. She said "if" she made a mistake, then she would accept question 5 instead.

We also had to complete a final exam online. The professor said it would be posted last Thursday, so I checked periodically over the weekend and so did my classmates. None of us could find the exam. We emailed the professor and she kept saying the same thing "It should be up there", so finally I emailed her some screen shots to prove to her that it wasn't posted. Then, she corrected it and sent out an email saying that "somehow" the final exam was inactivated.

We also had to write final paper and upload that to the website as well. I got it done early (it's actually due today) and was all set to upload it, when I noticed there wasn't a "Browse" button for that assignment. How was I supposed to submit my paper without a "Browse" button? Again I emailed her and yet again I got another useless answer. She said "You should be able to upload through the site." I will give her some credit here though because she added that we could also email it as an attachment if we couldn't get it to upload. So that's what I did.

I do not have a job yet and that has me really worried. I got a student loan, but it isn't going to tie me over into July, so I need to find something soon. It's hard to live without any income. I don't even get unemployment because they don't count work study as employment and also because I quit my last job intentionally to move here for school. I don't agree with that, but there's nothing I can do. Well, that's all for now, I need to go apply for energy assistance so my power doesn't get disconnected at the end of the month.

Catch a Rabbit by His Hair

2009-05-23T06:40:00.006-05:00

I'm thinking about the bunnies today. They live in separate cages now because Big Brown is too aggressive toward Bobby. I have a rabbit cage sitting on top of a huge dog kennel. I can't even turn them out together anymore because Big Brown chases Bobby and bites him and pulls out his hair. The last time I tried it, I watched as Bobby ran for his life and then came running to the door, begging me to let him in (which is rare).

I let them out on the balcony for exercise and fresh air but some problems have emerged. They have chewed some serious damage on the fencing around the balcony. Then I caught them chewing a hole in the screen door. I bought a carpet remnant to keep the poo from falling through the boards and onto my neighbors balcony, but now the remnant is starting to smell and I am deliberating whether to throw it away. Without this barrier, the bunnies cannot go outside to run and stretch their legs. They would have to live exclusively in their cages which I think may be cruel. It reminds me of having a bird in a cage; they are meant to fly, but we rob them of that freedom by caging them for our own amusement.

I want to provide a habitat for the bunnies that is safe for them, but doesn't cause property damage to my home. I don't want them running loose in the house because there's just too many hiding places and I can't catch them. Plus there's lots of things for them to chew on that may either hurt them or piss me off to an unhealthy degree. I really want to be able to let them out of their cages once in a while, preferably for 4 hours a day, but I don't know how to make this happen. There's a rabbit playpen on the market, but I'm struggling financially, and I can't justify the price for this right now.

I have had my eye on this particular rabbit hutch for quite a while. It has all the features that I want for them, including the enclosed den and slide out litter trays. But what I like best about this hutch is that it actually looks like furniture. If I have to keep them in the house all the time, I want something that is presentable, neat and tidy but it will have to wait until I have the finances.

In the meantime, I will have to make do, which is fine, but my biggest dilemma is what to do about the carpet on the balcony and whether turning them out is really a necessity considering all the damage they do. Do you have any thoughts on this?

Smarty Pants

2009-05-13T20:23:00.008-05:00

I FINALLY got my grades today, but it was worth the wait!

Business Communications- A
Principals of Management- B
Website Development- A
Equine Care- A
Survey of the Equine Profession- A
Math for Liberal Arts Majors- A

I know I say this all the time, but this was a tough semester. I really had to work for it. I had a lot of time consuming projects and research to do. I had to write a fair number of papers and use my critical thinking skills.

I do things by the book though. First, I take good notes, even if it's something I think I already know. That's because the teacher wants you to know their own take on the subject. If you know what the teacher is looking for, then you've won them over. When doing a worksheet, I don't fill in the answer until I'm sure that what I'm writing is correct. I look at what the teacher requires in each assignment and try to meet each individual requirement.

Next, I go the extra mile. In academics, it certainly doesn't hurt to be an overachiever. This makes your work stand out and improves your reputation as a conscientious student who cares about their grades. I recently interviewed Lynn Palm for my Survey of the Equine Profession class. The assignment was to do an interview and write a reflection based on your findings. Now most people in my class interviewed someone they knew personally, but I went out on a limb and requested an interview with one of the greatest horsewomen in the country. I wrote 8 pages for my final paper. The assignment could have been fulfilled in 3 or 4 pages, but I tried to add depth by applying my findings to my personal experiences, challenges and goals.

Finally, I do my study guides for each and every test. This is crucial. The teacher is TELLING YOU WHAT IS GOING TO BE ON THE TEST!!! They are essentially giving you an open book pre-test that you can work on at your own pace in the privacy of your own home. Add that to the fact that test scores are generally more heavily weighted when calculating your final grade and you'll find that study guides are well worth the effort.

Why Group Projects Are Bullshit

2009-05-06T23:47:00.013-05:00

There was a group project assigned the second week of school worth about 40% of the points for the term. Each group was to have four people in it. Amy and I wanted to be in a group together but before we knew it there were two groups left and they each only needed one person. I got stuck with three girls (RH, JG, and MS) I had never met before. I was optimistic at first but as the semester wore on, my group proved to be utterly pathetic.

The project consisted of a professional business report with copies of all our sources and a speech with a PowerPoint presentation. The business report had to be formatted according to the example she gave us and be professionally bound. Our topic was chosen by the instructor, "Gender in the Workplace". We decided to tweak it a little and do "Transgenders in the Workplace".

I asked my group before spring break if we could have a meeting before they left town. I wanted to divide our topic into subtopics so I could do my portion during the break. RH and JG said "No, we're too busy, we'll do it when we get back".

They got back to town and still we never had a group meeting outside of class. We would talk for 2 or 3 minutes after class, but nothing was getting done. The report was due April 28th. Guess when we started working on it??? April 21.

RH wrote 3 paragraphs, JG wrote 2 paragraphs, MS wrote 5 paragraphs and then I edited, wrote, cited and formatted the rest. None of them did proper MLA parenthetical citations; All they did was put web addresses at the end of their sections! Then I had to go and read all these different websites and try to match it up with what they had written and then write their MLA citations. Pathetic. How do you get to be a senior in college without knowing how to cite your work on a research paper!?

Then I printed the report and the sources- those idiots didn't even know the teacher wanted a copy of the sources- they acted all surprised when I told them. I emailed copies to everyone- which no one bothered to respond to. I would have liked feedback or something, but no. Not even a thank you, or a looks good.

We didn't have time to get it professionally bound because it wasn't done until the night before! Not my fault- RH didn't bother to email me her portion until the day before it was due. I asked for it on Tuesday, but she told me she had other homework to do, but then later she slipped up and told me she went out drinking the night I wanted the text. That bitch!

Then, JG said she would do the PowerPoint because that's what she loves to do and she's good at it. I said I'd like to do my own slides, that way I'd know more about what I was talking about, but everybody thought that would be bad because it would all be formatted differently. So I said "Fine. Whatever. You do it".

But she never did. I asked to see the work she had done and GUESS WHAT SHE EMAILED ME!? A title page and a cartoon without a source citation! That's right people! TWO fucking slides! That bitch!

So that night, I made 13 slides with text and images properly cited. Then I worked on it on Saturday for about 8 hours and got it up to over 20 slides. We had a meeting in which MS stayed for about 2 hours, RH showed up for 20-30 minutes and JG didn't come at all. I got really mad and started bitching about how I was sick of doing everything myself and that my other projects were falling behind because nobody else was doing any work on this. I must have said the F word about ten times at least. RH said that she and JG would finish the PowerPoint and then she left. MS said she was glad I finally said something.

Two days later we had another meeting. On Cinco De Mayo to be exact. RH didn't bother to come because she was getting drunk and going to a Mexican restaurant. JG came for one hour and then left to join the party. MS came as soon as she got done with her riding final and she was super pissed! She wanted to call the teacher. But what she didn't know was that I had gone to the teacher 2 weeks ago and she basically laughed in my face and told me, "Too bad, you're stuck with them". That bitch!

Anyway JG had told me that she had 5 slides to add to the PowerPoint but after I saw the "finished product" her slides were pretty bogus. She told me they were done ahead of time, but it was pretty obvious to me that she did them after I asked her about it. She put together some half ass shitty slides without any real content. That bitch!

I wanted to tell them that I was going to split my slides with MS and that they needed to do their own slides, but it was 2 days before the speech. I figured that they would look like idiots standing up in front of the class trying to talk about a subject they had personally done very little research on. They basically just read the PowerPoint and didn't elaborate on any of the points.

I wanted to run the clicker for my section of slides because I had all kinds of additional stuff to talk about, but those bitches wouldn't let me have it. JG was just going to psychically interpret when I needed the slide advanced. She said she would watch me but then we all stood in a perfectly straight row with me at one end and her at the other. She couldn't see me even if she wanted to! That bitch!

The teacher liked our business report. She said she liked the charts and graphs that I put in, but she didn't like the cheap ass report cover we put on it. (Those bitches had the nerve to try to blame me for not having it professionally bound. I said we didn't have time because RH procrastinated it so much.) She also liked the PowerPoint and the speech. She said learned from it. She didn't have any negative comments.

This whole thing was a series of flakiness, and I am so glad it's over. This type of bullshit irritates me to no end. I NEVER want to work on a group project again. I didn't like them in the first place and this experience just totally sealed the deal for me. I would have rather done the entire thing by myself than share a grade with these imbeciles.

Transgender Individuals in the Workplace

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Law & Government Business & Law equal opportunity Hate Crimes

The Frog Brigade

2009-04-29T22:12:00.010-05:00

This post comes to you from frog central. There are so many frogs here that's all you can hear. I'm serious! It's been rainy for the last few days and I'm noticing that frogs are really frickin' noisy!

So I Googled "Missouri frogs" and found this site. I think I've identified the chorus of frogs outside. I just wish I could record it for you so you can hear it too, but if you go to the site there are recordings of them- if you're interested.

Western Chorus Frog

Scientific name:
Pseudacris triseriata
Features:
This small, secretive frog is found on grasslands, meadows and forest edges.
Color:
May be gray or tan with three wide, dark stripes or a series of spots down the back and a wide, dark brown stripe on the sides. The belly is white.
Size:
from ¾ to 1 ½ inches in head-body length.
Habitat:
Seldom seen and spend most of the summer underground in animal burrows or in clumps of grass.
Breeding:
Early spring in temporarily flooded fields and ditches.
Call:
A rasping, vibrating prreeep, which sounds similar to running a fingernail over
the small teeth of a pocket comb.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eastern American Toad

Scientific name:
Bufo americanus americanus
Features:
Missouri’s most common toad. The American toad is medium-sized and has a large, kidney-shaped gland called the parotoid gland behind each eye. The pupil of each eye is horizontal.
Color:
May be gray, light brown or reddish-brown. The dark spots on the back may encircle from one to three warts. The belly is cream-colored and mottled with dark gray.
Size:
From 2 to 3 inches in headbody length. Females generally are larger than males.
Diet:
Eats earthworms and a wide variety of insects.
Breeding:
American toads select woodland ponds or water-filled ditches for breeding in late
March, April and early May.
Call:
A sustained, high-pitched musical trill.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gray Treefrog

Scientific name:
Hyla chrysoscelis and Hyla versicolor
Features:
Gray treefrogs are Missouri’s most common species of treefrog. Two species of gray treefrogs occur in Missouri: Cope’s gray treefrog, Hyla chrysoscelis, and the eastern gray treefrog, Hyla versicolor. There is always a large, white marking below each eye. Large, adhesive toe pads are present on fingers and toes.
Color:
May be gray, greenish-gray or brown. Bright green specimens are
often seen. The inside of each hind leg is washed with yellow-orange.
Size:
Average from 1 ¼ to 2 inches in head-body length.
Habitat:
Forest-dwelling
Breeding:
Late May and early June in fishless, woodland ponds.
Call:
These two species are nearly identical in appearance and are best separated by their calls. Cope’s gray treefrog sounds like a buzzer, while the eastern gray treefrog has a birdlike, musical trill.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plains Spadefoot

Scientific name:
Spea bombifrons
Features:
These small toadlike amphibians have large, protruding eyes. The pupils of their eyes are vertical and elliptical. The hind legs are short, and the underside of each hind foot has a distinct, wedge-shaped spade, hence its name.
Color:
There may be some green on the sides. The small, irregular blotches on the back and legs are dark brown and may encircle the majority of their tiny warts.
Size:
From 1 ½ to 2 inches in head-body length.
Habitat:
Prairies and open-river flood plains. It hides in burrows in sandy soil and becomes active at night, especially after heavy summer rains.
Diet:
Eats a variety of insects.
Breeding:
April and May.
Call:
A long, rasping, nasal garvank.

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

Blanchard's Cricket Frog

Scientific name:
Acris crepitans blanchardi
Features:
A member of the treefrog family (Hylidae) but is a non-climber and lacks the adhesive toe pads associated with treefrogs.
Color:
Quite variable—gray, tan, greenish-tan or brown. The back may have a green, yellow, orange or brown stripe. There is always a dark triangle between the eyes.
Size:
Averages from 5/8 to 1 ½ inches in head-body length.
Habitat:
Commonly seen along the edges of ponds and rivers, especially on mud flats and gravel bars. This species avoids predators by a series of quick, erratic hops.
Breeding:
Late April to early July
Call:
A metallic gick, gick, gick.

Fulton Houses

2009-04-26T11:54:00.006-05:00

There are a lot of gorgeous houses here in Fulton. I love this old style of architecture with big porches and arched roofs and funky little towers on the sides. Amy and I went all over town on Friday and snapped some of the most unforgettable homes in Fulton. At least 3 of these are for sale including the brick one with the tower on the right and the landscaping along the sidewalk.

One of my favorite ones is actually abandoned, I think. There has been a garbage can laying on the front sidewalk for a week or so. I would SO love to live there. I think the problem here is that there's not enough good paying jobs for people to afford these older homes. Fulton has lots of houses for sale, not all of them are this nice, but some much more modest. This wouldn't be a bad place to live if there were more jobs. Right now your best bet is to work in either Columbia or Jefferson City and commute about half an hour either way.

I've been saying since I moved here, that this town needs a big telemarketing center to put the college students to work. There's both William Woods and Westminster so the town is brimming with 18-20-somethings. The few places that are hiring only pay minimum wage. Then when they graduate, they leave the town to find jobs somewhere else where they can earn a decent wage. The city leaders really should pow-wow about this.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Livin' in the Land of Virtual Reality

2009-04-23T20:58:00.007-05:00

I built a website from scratch! I took a class in website development and learned how to use Adobe Dreamweaver. It was a great class to take because this skill might really be useful someday when I get out into the Real World. It looks good on a resume at least and it is actually really fun!

This is a website designed for my family's greenhouse business. In the About Us page you can see a family photo that was taken about 14 years ago. My brothers are just toddlers in the pic, but now Karl is 16 and Kevin is 13.

By the way... You can download a free trial of any Adobe product. I got Dreamweaver free for 30 days and worked on the website over spring break. Then, if you want to buy it, they have excellent student rates. I can get Dreamweaver for $199 as a student, when normally it's $399. Sweet deal, huh?

Here is the URL so you can check it out:

http://www.kriegergreenhouses.dytonhost.com/

Keeping Up with the Dudley

2009-04-16T00:10:00.007-05:00

OK so here's what's new: I got a cold on Friday and I saw the school nurse on Monday. She gave me a prescription and I think it's starting to work, but I'm getting headaches almost every evening. The kind that even 3 Advil don't get rid of.

I cut my hair... Myself. Now that in itself is nothing new. I've been cutting it since I was 18, but what's new is that I layered it all crazy style. I don't know what came over me. One day I was highly agitated with it and felt like it was screaming at me to cut it, so i did. It was too long and flat and droopy anyway, so I'm glad I did it, but it's not really even or anything. Good thing I don't really give a shit. I'd post a picture but I have one too many chins and I'm not really into being photographed right now.

Next it's almost the end of the semester so I'm buried under a mountain of homework. I have a term project in one class that includes a professionally printed and bound business report with a PowerPoint and a group presentation. Unfortunately I ended up with the worst most lazy slow group I've ever had the displeasure of working with in my life. I wish I could have just done it by myself and it would have been done by spring break. We have not had one group meeting. Not one. I started the outline of the report and made a template and wrote the introduction and emailed it to everyone. I asked for their opinions and feedback and asked about their progress and none of them even bothered to email me back. Then I sent out a document containing all of my research materials, highlighted with the useful sections and still... Nothing. I hate my group. I wish I could put them in a gunny sack with a bunch of rocks and throw them off a bridge. Worst of all is that this project is worth 550 points and its a major part of our grade and the teacher already told us she is going to be really tough with grading... We.are.so.fucked.

Next, Dixie is hurt really bad and I can't do anything about it. She has a gash from hip to hock with 8" of bone showing at the hock. Plus she was out in the pasture for 3 days before anyone noticed it. Too much time passed and they couldn't put stitches in. With the bone being exposed for this long there's a high risk of bone necrosis which means they might have to cut away some of the bone. Worse still it's in a tricky spot- the hock being a primary weight bearing joint and all. I know she's in a lot of pain because they have to tranquilize her just to treat it. She's staying at Doctor Abraham's Clinic and I have a lot of respect for his knowledge and skill, but I am devastated and worried and fearful and sad about poor Dixie Girl. I really hope she pulls through.

And finally... I am a Food Network addict. I love the cake decorating shows and Dinner Impossible. I like Chopped and Alton Brown. I like the Barefoot Contessa and I'm convinced that she would be an excellent nurse because she has such a calm, soothing voice and that equals good bedside manner. I'm a cooking fool these days too! Here are some of the recipes I was inspired to try:

Apple braised pork chops
Roasted new potatoes with rosemary and parsley
2 different recipes for meatballs
Bolilo garlic bread with fresh parsley and Parmesan
BBQ pulled pork on a toasted whole wheat bun

All I need now is a sweet cutting board and a super sharp knife and I'll be one happy girl.

Fajitas!

2009-04-09T19:02:00.003-05:00

This post is a cheat. It's the same thing I posted on another blog that I contribute to, but I have a very good reason for posting it here too... I wanted to share it with all the lovely people who visit this blog as well. Good things were meant to be shared and that is why I'm giving you my own personal recipe for fajitas. I'm actually kind of doing you a favor see, because now you don't have to click on that other link to find this recipe. Plus, this recipe will feed like 4 or 5 people for much less than the cost of going out for fajitas. It's like RECESSION FAJITAS! Anyway, I hope you try this sometime and tell me what you think of my recipe. I made it up myself.

I don't know about you, but I love Mexican food. And of all the delicious Mexican food out there, steak fajitas is the king of them all. Now, we all know that if you order them from a restaurant it's going to cost about 10 bucks for an order of sizzling hot deliciousness. So, I devised a way for me to have fajitas any time I wish right in the comfort of my own home... I cook them myself! I know, right? Here is my recipe for you to try out the next time you get a hankerin' for fajitas:

INGREDIENTS:
1 & 1/2 pounds of sirloin steak
1/4 C Worcestershire sauce (or A1 steak sauce)
1/4 C Italian or Vinaigrette salad dressing
the juice of 1 lime
2 T fresh cilantro (or 1/2 T dried)
1 T steak seasoning
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed or diced
1/2 green pepper cut into strips
1/4-1/2 yellow onion cut into half rings
1 large tomato cut into half-moon shaped slices
2 jalapenos, 1 cut into rings and 1 cored, seeded and diced
2 T cooking oil (I like olive oil)
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 can refried beans
1 pkg shredded cheese (I like quesadilla cheese)
1 pkg sour cream
1 lemon, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS:
1. Freeze the steak, then partially defrost it in the microwave, then it will be much easier to remove the fat and cut it into strips
2. Place steak strips in a large mixing bowl
3. Add Worcestershire sauce, salad dressing, lime juice, cilantro, steak seasoning and garlic. Stir to combine and coat the steak.
4. Add the green peppers, onion, tomatoes and jalapenos. Stir again to combine and coat the veggies.
5. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour
6. Heat oil in a huge skillet or in a big pan of some sort.
7. Add the steak and veggie mixture, including all of the delicious juices
8. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally
9. While the fajitas cook, nuke the refried beans and warm up the tortillas
10. When the meat is done, build your fajitas. I like to put the beans, cheese and sour cream in the tortilla, then top it with the meat and then a big squeeze of lemon juice to finish.

People- this recipe is perfection. It makes about 8-10 fajitas, so if you want to really impress your friends, fix this the next time you have them over for dinner. You won't be disappointed. And if you are disappointed, you are just a fun hater who doesn't know a good thing when you see one. Amen.

William Woods Equestrian Studies Video

2009-03-27T23:19:00.003-05:00

Got some things to talk about...

2009-03-23T00:44:00.003-05:00

So it seems I fell off the blogging wagon again. Well, here's another one of those posts that is totally random, just to get you up to speed with what's going on in my world.

First and foremost- I figured out a way that I can graduate in December of this year. I have to take two summer classes to do so, but I'll be saving a whole semester's worth of tuition and living expenses. At first, I was worried about the financing; when I called financial aid they told me I had maxed out my aid for the year and wouldn't be eligible for any more money. Then I decided to go see them in person, because it's easy to tell somebody 'tough shit' over the phone and a lot harder to tell them to their face. And sure enough, they found a spare $890 layin around waiting for me to come and claim it! That means all I have to pay out of pocket is $160 which is much more manageable than $1050.

I have considered continuing my education and getting a masters degree, I haven't closed the door on that completely, but right now I just want to work! I am so tired of being drastically, achingly penniless and poor! I know that if I decide to get a masters, I need to do it immediately after I graduate from William Woods because I'll get the best financial aid package that way. I guess it would be smart to contact ISU and ask exactly how many credits I need and what classes I'd be taking. Put that on the list of things to do...

Next up: Computer Heaven and Hell! I'm building a real, live, actual website for my family's greenhouse business. I downloaded the Adobe Dreamweaver software onto my computer free for one month and I've been working on it a lot over spring break. Then one day I needed to retrieve a document I had saved in my email account and guess what?... My Internet connection was gone. Poof. Just like that it evaporated! I was on it earlier in the day and it worked fine. The next day I got some sort of Windows System Error 32 and had to run the Windows XP software to repair it but still no Internet (but at least I didn't lose any of my files!). I waited two days to see if it would return, but eventually I broke down and had Charter come and hook it up again. Lucky for me, they were nice and offered me free basic cable for 6 months to go with it! I just watched about six hours of the Food Network so my brain is a little fuzzled.

Third. I am dominating my online math class. With a little help from my good friend, Amy! She has a knack for algebra and a good kind heart, so she came over a lot to help me struggle through some pretty sticky chapters of algebra equations. Thankfully, now I'm on to probabilities and I'm managing them all by myself! I've got a high B/low A in the course so far and that's really good for me because math was never my strong suit.

Fourth- The bunnies need to get neutered post haste. They are chewing like crazy and Big Brown is becoming aggressive toward Bobby. The chewing is a sign of 'frustration' and the aggressive behavior is also a symptom of increased hormonal activity. I brought the buns a bunch of apple branches from Rachel's farm and they are going to town on them. They are about five months old now which is the right age for them to visit the doctor. My main concern is finding a vet that has experience with rabbits. They are more tricky to sedate than a cat or dog and their system is much more sensitive to factors like noise and activity. It's possible for a rabbit to actually die from fright, so I want a place that will cater to their needs. Hopefully, I can find a vet by the end of this week.

So there you have it, all summed up in one tiny little blog package; a brief examination of the things that are occupying my time and attention. What's going on in your world?

My Morning Routine

2009-02-25T12:31:00.010-06:00

I'm entering Cindy's morning routine contest because it looks like fun and she always gives sweet prizes! So, without further delay, here is my morning routine:

1. Wake up to music alarm and Wicca jumping over my head.
2. Open the bedroom door and let Wicca out, close door again
3. Go potty
4. Wash my face twice, first with hot water, then with cold water, moisturize
5. Brush my teeth and put my contacts in
6. Open the bedroom door and shoo 4 hungry cats
7. Trip over 4 hungry cats and walk to the kitchen

8. Feed 4 hungry cats
9. Start the coffee pot, or if I have some leftover from yesterday, I just nuke a cup of day-old

10. Clean the bunnies' litter box and the kitties' litterbox
11. Wash and fill the bunnies' and kitties' water bowls
12. Fix a salad for the bunnies. Today's salad included red leaf lettuce, snow peas, carrots, raisins, broccoli, oranges and sun dried tomatoes

13. Pour a cup of coffee
14. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and lots of hazelnut creamer
15. Open vertical blinds to the balcony
16. Open sliding glass door to determine what kind of weather we're having, shut the door if it's cold, leave it open if it's nice
17. Turn on the aquarium light and feed the fish

18. Go back to my room and change my clothes
19. Sip coffee while I put on my face
20. Collect my books and leave for school

Bunnies!

2009-02-24T19:41:00.006-06:00

I adopted Big Brown and Bobby Bunny from Paradise Pets on the day Amy, Abby, Miranda and I went to Denny's for our free breakfast. After we ate, we decided to goof around and go to some of the little shops. First stop was Ozarkland, where "If you don't have enough souvenir shot glasses, thimbles or hillbilly crap, this is the place for you. " (Frank Brusca)

Then we decided to look for the pet store because we wanted to snuggle the snakes and lizards, and I wanted to see what aquarium products they had available. We didn't find the pet store right away, first we found this funky bar in a barn. It was closed unfortunately, but we made a mental note to go back sometime. Especially because they have an outdoor area called the Pig Pen and maybe they have mud wrestling or Jello wrestling or something fun like that.

Anyway, we pulled in to a gas station to ask for directions to the pet store and the girls wanted me to go in with a lisp and a gimpy leg just for laughs. But I chickened out at the last minute. Poo. The directions to the pet store were sketchy and difficult to remember, but since I was the only one standing there, it was up to me to remember what the lady said. It went something like this, "Well it's over there, but you can't get there from here."

Long story short, we found the place and went inside. As the girls wandered back to the reptile room, I spied a whole bunch of bunnies hopping around in an enclosed display. I spent some time snuggling them before I filed through the aisles of aquarium fish and rodents and creepy crawlies of various forms. Then I went back to the lizard room.

I told the girls about the bunnies and they all wanted to snuggle them too. Big Brown was everyone's favorite because he has a special way about him, but then the pet store guy told me Big Brown was male, so I didn't want him. I wanted a female instead.

So I picked up one of the two spotted bunnies and the pet store guy said it was a female and I said, "Are you sure?" He looked and said he was sure. And Amy said, "Do you want me to look!?" But I said no, this guy's the expert and he knows about bunnies so I bought the spotted bunny and Abby bought a gray female bunny and we headed out the door.

After I got home, Amy was holding my bunny while I was setting up the gigantic dog kennel to use as a rabbitat. That's when she broke the news to me that my "female" bunny had testicles. At first I thought about taking him back and exchanging him for a bunny with the proper anatomy, but then I changed my mind. Bobby had been home for about an hour and I had already started to bond with him and I didn't want him to feel confused or rejected by being returned.

When I said I was going to keep him, Amy got really excited and said "Good! Now you can go get Big Brown too!!!" It didn't take much to convince me, because like I said before, we all liked Big Brown from the beginning.

So now I have two Mini Rex bunnies! These are the "velveteen" rabbits you may have heard about. They are about 4 months old and I'd like to get them neutered pretty soon. I've read that male bunnies can become aggressive and fight with each other after puberty. It's possible that they won't do that because they're brothers and they've known each other since birth, but I don't want to take a chance.

I picked out a rabbit hutch for the boys. It's awesome but a bit expensive. I could probably build it myself, but I'd have to draw up plans for it, and I don't really know how to do that. I like that it has an enclosed spot for the litter tray, but I'd use metal latches instead of the wooden ones.
When I told my mom about the bunnies, she said "That's just what you need". She's right, of course... I have 4 cats and an aquarium already. It's scary to think about how many pets I would have if I didn't live in an apartment.

Agate Types and Characteristics

2009-02-17T01:47:00.000-06:00

I'm giving a presentation on agates today! Here's my powerpoint:

Agate Types and Characteristics

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Presentations & Slid rocks Fairburn

New School Daze Blog!

2009-02-01T23:02:00.005-06:00

So, as if i didn't have enough blogs to manage, I started one more. This one is called 'School Daze' and it consists of all the electronic material that has been provided by my instructors. I started School Daze because it occurred to me that after this semester is over, I will no longer have access to the course material because it exists only on my student webpage. By all rights, I have paid for this material and I should be able to refer to it at any point throughout the rest of my life. And so I have preserved it here, on Blogger, to share with anyone who cares to read it.

Did you know that...

2009-01-29T01:01:00.004-06:00

Fulton is the mule capitol of Callaway county?

and that

Callaway county is the mule capitol of Missouri?

and that

Missouri is the mule capitol of the United States?

and that

The United States is the mule capitol of the world?

and that

Earth is the mule capitol of the galaxy!?

AND THAT MEANS THAT FULTON IS MULE CAPITOL

OF THE ENTIRE GALAXY!!

Happy Inauguration Day Cookies!

2009-01-20T20:18:00.004-06:00

Who doesn't love sugar cookies with sweet homemade frosting and sprinkles!? Nobody, that's who.

Last night, Amy and I got together and made these sweet inaugration day cookies to take to our Equine Care class and bribe people into being friends with us. Amy did the mixing and the baking part, which is why they aren't burned, and I did the frosting and sprinkling part which is why they are so pretty. Actually, we both did a little bit of everything, But I'm the best at cookie cutterring and frosting, so that's what I stuck to.

You might notice that there are a few McCain cookies mixed in with the others. That's because McCain was also an excellent candidate and the election was very close so we wanted to represent him too. That way, nobody was left out and felt bad.

New Kids on the Block

2009-01-16T11:26:00.005-06:00

Times are tough in the Emerald City. Dorothy has started the second semester of her junior year at the super expensive university. Her financial aid check hasn't come in yet, so she is struggling to make ends meet. It's a struggle she has quite a bit of experience with, unfortunately.

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It's been a hectic week! Abby and Miranda moved to town last Thursday and Megan and Cara came down to help. They got a house on 10 acres waaaayyyy out in the boonies and Rachel and I went out to help unload their things. The directions Miranda gave me were wrong and we drove up and down some shitty gravel road for an hour and a half and got chased by a pack of wild dogs before we decided to come back to town. We went out for dinner at the Pizza Hut and lo and behold Megan called! She said there was no cell phone reception at the house and that she had to drive out to the main road to call us back.

I told her that we were hopelessly lost and that we were eating because Rachel came to Fulton immediately after she got off of work. Megan wanted to order pizza for the girls, so I gave the phone to the waitress and she took the order. It worked out perfectly because by the time we finished eating, Megan and Miranda showed up to pick up their pizza and we followed them out to the house.

The house was adorable. Its a little two story red cottage in the woods with two dormer windows and a fireplace. There's lots of woodwork inside and gorgeous kitchen with tin tiles all over the walls. The appliances are new and it has a wonderful gas grill on the back patio with a set of garden furniture as well. The shower has three heads! One on the right, one on the left, and one gigantic one right in the middle. The upstairs is a loft bedroom with a private balcony overlooking their horse pasture. Did I mention they can keep their horses there!? They have 3 horses between them and they have 3 pastures on the property. Oh and guess what!? There was a gas leak and we couldn't go inside.

They called the gas man and it took him an hour and a half for him to get out there. He said the propane tank was low and so he put 178 gallons in it. Then he said the fireplace wasn't burning off all the fuel and that was contributing to the smell. By this time it was 10:30pm and Rachel went home. I stayed behind to see the house and help the girls. The next day we ran errands around town and it was 65 degrees all day. Miranda had to switch to AT&T wireless because that's the only service that is picked up out there.

Then on Saturday, Amy moved to town! There was a blizzard in Iowa that delayed her arrival by about 3 hours. She wanted to arrive by noon so she could pick up the key at the landlords office. Which meant they needed to leave at 6am but the roads weren't cleared and they didn't get started until 9 instead. Her mom called the landlord and worked it out so he would bring the key over when they arrived. I went over to help her unload and move in. Her apartment is on the top floor so that meant lots of stair climbin' for me.

Her apartment has tons of character. The building is an old red brick finishing school for girls. It has steep pointy gables all around and an arched entry. The driveway is a half moon shape and it's only about 3-4 blocks from William Woods in the most amazing neighborhood full of giant old Victorian style homes. She has a cute little balcony with french doors and a pass through window from the kitchen to the living room. The bathroom is situated in the back corner off the bedroom and it is very large. There's new carpet and tile throughout. We did have to struggle a bit to get the sofa through the door but that's to be expected. We gave it the old 1, 2, 3 PUSH and it went right in.

It seems the school screwed up on Miranda's financial aid package and after she moved down, they revised the package and it is now $4500 less than they originally promised. This is a huge disaster in her world. Now she's short on tuition and can't afford books. Furthermore, she will have to work her ass off to pay for living expenses. So on Monday, I took her to get food stamps and energy assistance. All of that worked out really well and she was approved for both. Hopefully, the school will come through with some more money for her too.

I went over to Amy's for dinner and a movie on Tuesday night. Then when I left, my effing tire was flat! I drove back around the driveway and parked the car. Amy heard the noise from the tire and came downstairs immediately. She drove me home and then took me to school the next day. Thank God for friends! After my class got out, I walked back to her place in the freezing cold wind. I changed the tire all by myself like a big girl and then, as I lowered Sadie back to the ground, guess what? The effing spare was flat too!!!

So now I'm pissed. I sat in the car until Amy got home, then she took me to the tire repair place to fix the tire. They said it came off the rim, probably due to the ridiculously cold weather and air shrinkage. Anyway, that cost me $15 dollars that I didn't really have, but hey, what ya gonna do? We headed back and I changed my tire for the second time that day in the bitter cold while Amy fixed a hot lunch for us.

My Bucket List

2009-01-07T19:11:00.012-06:00

I'm not completely sure I understand the entire concept of The Bucket List. From what I gather, it's a list of all the places you want to visit before you die. I think it's also supposed to include things you want to do, like bungee jump or whatever, but I couldn't think of very many of those. But I do love to travel so my Bucket List includes mostly destinations that I feel I must see before I kick the bucket.

My Bucket List

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Vacations Travel

Back in the Day

2009-01-05T12:07:00.003-06:00

In honor of my birthday, I put together a little slideshow of some of my favorite photos from back in the day. My plans for my birthday are simple, take a shower, go out for lunch, stop and buy cat food and toothpaste on the way home, get the mail, paint my nails a fun color, and watch Oprah.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Honest Scrap Award

2008-12-30T11:41:00.019-06:00

Hey everybody! Cindy gave me an award! I'd like to thank Cindy for this honor, and for taking an interest in my blog. Go visit her and say 'Hi', because she's the person who recommended that I start this blog in the first place. So if you think about it, you wouldn't even be here without her.

Honest Scrap Award Rules:

When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!

I'm tagging:
1. Kristen
2. Kimberly
3. Shari
4. Rachel
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?

I was going to tag some strangers, but then as I read their blogs, it didn't seem appropriate.

1. Although I don't listen to Britney Spears' music, I want her to make a successful comeback. I like her. I don't know why, but I really want her to prove she has it in her to be a fabulous rock star.

2. Financially speaking, I'm a disaster. I filed bankruptcy about 10 years ago and was doing great at re-establishing my credit. Then I had a medical problem that caused me to rack up a ton of bills and I didn't have insurance. Plus, now I have my student loans.

3. You know that medical problem I just mentioned? I quit going to the doctor when they started talking about doing an operation. I ignore it. I have to because it was causing me the worst anxiety problems and I really can't deal with it.

4. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to keep working instead of going back to school. At least when I was working, I had a steady income, a great social life and a chance to take real vacations. Now I have virtually no income, and I can't afford a vacation, a concert, or a night out. I moved so far away from my peer group that I have no opportunities to socialize.

5. I haven't sewn much of anything since I moved. I repaired a net and I made small flag quilt for a contest at school (I won 2nd place and sold it for $30). But other than that, I haven't worked on anything. I started cutting out pieces for a charm quilt, but when school started, I was either too busy or not motivated.

6. I love the Sims video games...love them like crazy. I can waste hours and hours playing Sims. The other night, I dreamed in Sims. The imagery of my dream was the game, and the people in my dream were characters from the game. Crazy isn't it?

7. I love snow. The ambiance of a good snowstorm is so pleasing to me. I like watching it snow and wondering if school will be closed and if businesses will have to close. I like wearing thermals and layering shirts and sweaters. I like bundling up in snowpants, and wearing a stocking hat, scarf and mittens. I even kind of like scooping snow.

8. I am annoyed and agitated with myself when I talk about how "I used to do this" or a "I used to be that". It bothers me because I feel like I'm not as fabulous now as I once was. I made some changes in my life that completely changed who I am (for better or worse). You wouldn't believe who I used to be.

9. I don't care for fiction very much (with a few exceptions). So when I read a novel, I skip straight to the back. I want to get right down to the nitty gritty. I want to know who done it, when, where, why and how; and I want to know immediately. I also tend to read magazines from the back forward as well. Quirky, I know. But that's how I roll.

10. I don't believe in showering every day unless I need to. I'm more of an every other day kind of gal. It dries out my skin and hair way too much, plus it takes my hair too long to dry. My hair usually looks better the second day anyway. Also, I prefer to shower at night rather than in the morning. Then I can moisturize at my leisure and sit around in my jammies huddled in a blanket with a kitty and watch a movie while my hair dries.

Dear Santa

2008-12-26T10:15:00.000-06:00

Santa Letter

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Humor

Christmas Cartoons

2008-12-24T08:21:00.002-06:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My Christmas List

2008-12-23T08:18:00.000-06:00

Dear Santa...

Christmas Blessings

2008-12-22T09:34:00.000-06:00

Christmas Blessings

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Culture

Christmas and Other Fun Holidays!

2008-12-21T04:36:00.013-06:00

Ok, so we all know Christmas is the 25th but did you also know that the 25th is Pumpkin Pie Day!? There are many lesser known holidays to keep us celebrating all month long... They are certainly worthy holidays, they just get overshadowed by the glorious big one.

December 21 is . . . . Look At The Bright Side Day, National Flashlight Day, National French Fried Shrimp Day, and Hamburger Day- OK, here's how I would celebrate this one: Listen to "The Bright Side of the Road" by Van Morrison at least 2 or 3 times. Go out for lunch and order shrimp and a burger, obviously. Then come home, check the batteries in your Maglite and put on a shadow puppet play where a reindeer, a bunny and an alligator walk into a bar....

December 22 is . . . . National Date-Nut Bread Day- Gross. I'm voting this one off the island. I say we replace it with something fun like SUGAR COOKIE DAY!! Yes! Let's take a vote, shall we? So far I have 1 for Sugar Cookie Day and ZERO for Date-Nut Bread Day.

December 23 is . . . . Roots Day- This is when you research who begat who in your family tree. And if you discover your great-grandparents were actually first cousins, brush it under the rug and never speak of it again. I won't tell if you don't.

December 24 is . . . . National Egg Nog Day- I'm celebrating this one for sure. delicious and disgusting at the same time! The kitties love eggnog so this is one we can celebrate together as a Family!

December 25 is . . . . National Pumpkin Pie Day- Quite possibly the most delicious non-chocolate dessert ever invented. I'm terrible at cooking, but I can make pies oddly enough (crust and all!). Plus it's Christmas!

December 26 is . . . . National Whiners Day- This is for all those babies who don't like the pink mu mu their great aunt lovingly picked out for them so they go stand in line for three hours at the return desk so they can exchange it for a Lil Wayne CD.

December 27 is . . . . National Fruitcake Day- By this time all the new toys are broken and the Christmas anticipation has led to a letdown and the kids are driving you crazy and the boredom of being home with the family and extended relations is making you homicidal so you invent fun games to play with the fruitcake your neighbor gave you.

December 28 is . . . . Card Playing Day and National Chocolate Day- Tired of watching football and It's a Wonderful Life? How about stuffing your face with bon bons while reading your Tarot cards!? Not your style? Then how about some good old fashioned poker, you can use Christmas candy as chips! What about UNO!? You know you love it!

December 29 is . . . . Pepper Pot Day- I think she was Tony Stark's secretary. She is helpful and the unlikely love interest but I really don't know why we need this one... Just rent Ironman and enjoy the yumminess that is Robert Downey Jr.

December 30 is . . . . Festival Of Enormous Changes At The Last Minute and National Bicarbonate Of Soda Day- I think this is where George Bush tries to pass all sorts of sneaky little laws and commandments and shit at the last minute before we throw him under a bus... I think, I don't know that for sure though. And then to celebrate baking soda we could make all sorts of neat science fair stuff, like volcanoes, black snakes and bottles that blow up balloons. YAY!

December 31 is . . . . Unlucky Day- This one is dumb. Maybe it's because people start thinking about their New Year's resolutions and then that makes them realize how tragically fucked up they really are and then they try to externalize their problems and it causes them to deny any responsibility for the way things are and then they say they have no free will and that they're just unlucky. But I wouldn't know because I don't do that...I'm just guessing.

REMEMBER THIS AT CHRISTMAS TIME

2008-12-20T09:02:00.001-06:00

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl. We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat-ass man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

Tasking and Relaxing

2008-12-12T17:23:00.002-06:00

Today is the first day of Christmas break from school. In the absence of any formal holiday plans, I have been making a list of things I can do over the holiday break:

stay up until 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning and sleep whenever I feel like it
organize the living room closet
organize under the sinks/check product expiration dates
sort out 3 boxes of papers and old mail (I'm real bad with papers...)
unpack the last 18 boxes
join the YMCA and go at least 3 times per week
have a movie night with Rachel
rearrange the books on the bookshelf
type some of my notes from previous classes
watch Dr Phil and Oprah every day
sew and paint with watercolor
think about getting a job
go to the library regularly
figure out how to hang curtains all the way around my bed
clean the aquarium
brush the kitties
burn candles
explore Fulton's antique stores and pawn shops
vacuum carpet and sweep linoleum
apply for scholarships

I think you can see how I'll be quite busy. There's a fair amount of tasking and a fair amount relaxing going on. I've already started by sorting through some of the papers on my desk! But now I'm burned out on that so I'm blogging. See how that works?

Lady or Sashay???

2008-12-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I surprised myself, remember how I said I was looking for a tobiano? Well, I've been looking high and low and guess what? I can't find one I want. It seems like the ones I've seen are too small or have a scraggly neck or mutton withers, or some other flaw that I don't like about them.

What really ticks me off though, is that most of the mares for sale in my price range are just broodmares that have never even been broke to ride. I can't tell you how much that frustrates me. With the horse market being so soft right now, lots of people are selling off broodmares to cut down on the expenses of their breeding operation.

I've spent hours and hours poring over sale ads and I've bookmarked a few, but I keep coming back to these two polar opposites:

KRA Shameless Lady:

She's a very pretty little horse and has no obvious conformational flaws. Lady's sire is Kyloe Shameless from Kyloe Ranch Appaloosas in North Dakota, but I haven't been able to contact the ranch, so I think they may now be defunct. I found her half brother for sale for $7500 as a stud. She needs her feet trimmed and probably needs updates on her vaccinations. I hate seeing a cutie like this just left out in a pasture. She deserves to have some time spent on her so she can become useful.

My biggest concern is that she's 4 years old but she hasn't been started under saddle yet. I have never started a horse before and while I feel confident that I could do it, it's a big undertaking. I would have lots of help from experienced horsepeople, of course, so I don't really feel that it would be too hard to start her out. I'm also concerned about her overall health and soundness, with her hooves as long as they are, it kind of makes me think she's been neglected. She seems to have terribly under slung heels which may be able to be corrected through proper trimming.

At the opposite end of the spectrum we have Lady Sashay:

Nice looking mare, huh? She's 12 years old and is very well broke to trail ride. She's half Tennessee Walker and half Thoroughbred. Her owners say "she has a big swinging walk, a huge extended trot that is easy to ride and a collected lope or she can also flat out run. Her rein controls are light, she neck reins, backs, side-passes and rolls back." Sashay has some very famous bloodlines; on her TWH side she has Merry Go Boy and on her TB side she has War Admiral (the horse who ran a match race against Seabiscuit).

My first concern about this horse is that she might be too fast and have too much energy for me. My second concern is that she is an older mare and may begin having age related health problems. They are only selling her because they want a barrel horse instead and they can't afford them both.

I'm still thinking about it (constantly) and I'm still looking. These two mares are priced about the same, so that's not really a factor. Lady is about 2 hours away and Sashay is 4 hours away. Any thoughts??

A Day Without a Gay

2008-12-09T10:47:00.008-06:00

Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day and a Day Without a Gay. All supporters of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community are encouraged to call in "gay" tomorrow. As an act of kindness and love, you are asked to donate your time to a charity or worthwhile cause such as volunteering for the Salvation Army, nursing home or the animal shelter.

If you cannot miss work or school, PLEASE Contact your member of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES and Contact your SENATORS and tell them you would like equal rights for the GLBT community. You can also get the word out by sending the press release from their Media Relations page into an email or a word document and send it around to your local news media.

Other things you can do to show your support:

wear a rainbow ribbon or pin

do not shop or make any purchases at all

vow silence all day

visit their website and sign the online petition, http://www.daywithoutagay.org/

post your support on your blog/Myspace/Facebook
participate in a sit in or protest

Gingerbread House

2008-12-06T21:46:00.005-06:00

I've always wanted to make a gingerbread house. I found this cute way to make a virtual gingerbread house without all the mess. As if there's not enough to do, here's a link where you can waste precious time and make a gingerbread house yourself.

WTF?

2008-12-03T15:46:00.004-06:00

Why is it that when it's 30 degrees outside, people still walk around in shorts and no shirt!? Are they hot? Or are they just so proud of their sexy bod that they just have to show the world? I am truly mystified. I saw a bunch of people on campus wearing shorts today. Then, on the way home, I saw this guy wearing a shiny red jacket with no shirt, jeans and a cowboy hat. The jacket was unzipped and blowing back in the headwind. He looked ridiculous.

The Home Stretch!

2008-11-30T19:39:00.005-06:00

This week is the final push leading up to finals week! I spent the Thankgiving weekend writing 6 papers for school, and all I have to do this week is show up and turn them in. The professors will give us a review of what to study for finals and it will be a piece of cake.

My philosophy professor said that his final will be optional. He will tell us our grade as it stands right now and then tell us what score we would need to move up a letter grade. As he put it, if even an 'A' on the final won't help your overall grade, then what's the point?

After finals, I have a month off. The prospect of spending an entire month alone in my apartment is dismal. I can't afford to travel for the holidays and my car needs work before I would feel safe taking it out on the road. Plus, I don't really want to drive across two states in winter alone. What sucks even more is that I will spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and my birthday all by myself. It's pretty fucking depressing. If I make it through the holidays without committing suicide it will be a miracle!

I WANT TO BUY A HORSE

2008-11-23T10:56:00.015-06:00

So, call me crazy, but I wanna buy a horse. I have been riding school horses and friends horses for long enough and now I reeeeeally want one of my own.

The timing is negotiable, but I actually have a reason why I want to buy one now as opposed to later. I will be graduating in Spring 2010. You may say, "What's that got to do with anything?" and here's you're answer; I'm looking for a paint broodmare that I can cross with a Grant's or Grevy's Zebra stallion early this spring, so the foal will drop next spring, when I graduate! Makes sense, yes?

Ideally, I would like Dixie to produce my zorse foal, but since I don't own her and she's not for sale, it's not exactly possible in reality. But I love the tobiano paint color pattern in either black or bay. It would be great if the mare was a proven color producer, homozygous or AB informative, because then it's possible that my foal will have both spots AND stripes! God, I'm getting excited just thinkin about it!

I need a mare with a sturdy frame that's not too tall, 14.2hh-15hh would be about right. She needs to be sound and rideable, because after she's done being a mama, I'm going to want to ride her. I'd prefer no pink nose so I don't have to worry about her getting a sunburn. I'd also prefer no white hooves because they are somewhat softer and more sensitive than black hooves, but the odds of finding all black hooves on a paint horse are slim.

My price range? Cheap or free. I don't have much of an income to spend on a horse right now. Plus, I have to provide for the stud fee and her medical expenses and board and feed. And since I don't own a truck and trailer, I need to find this mare within a 200 mile range of Fulton so I can have her delivered. Registration doesn't really matter to me.

So, here are a few of my options:

Peppy's Little Sue is a black and white tobiano in Hot Springs Village Arkansas. She's 8 years old, 14.3hh, "excellent brood mare", green broke (I can work with that) and they're asking $1200.

Fancie Around is also a black and white tobiano, 14.2hh in Almo, Kentucky. She's older than I would like at 14 years of age, but she's AB informative, meaning that she produces colored foals 3 out of 4 times. She has trail experience and they are asking $1500 for her.

Fleet Mystique is 15.1hh, 13 year old, sorrel overo mare for $950 in Mahomet, Illinois. She's a bit older, but she's well broke and comes with western tack, so it's a damn good value. But she's also bald faced, pink nosed and 4 white hooves...

Bunny is a 9 year old, green broke mare who lives in Carbondale Illinois. She's a bay tobiano, 14.2hh and they are asking $800 for her. She also has white hooves, but it's not a total deal-breaker for me.

Excoosively Painted is located in Carlilse, Iowa and is a 15hh chestnut tobiano mare. She is HYPP N/N, 6 years old and has a "sweet personality". She comes with 2 saddles, 2 blankets and all tack for $1500. She's never been bred, does well at water crossings, and is up to date on shots and wormer.

This is by no means all the options that are out there. In fact, I'm sure I could find something locally for a good price at auction. The thing that really bothers me about broodmares is that so many of them are very lightly trained which makes them less desireable to a buyer like me. The best way to make sure every horse has a home is to train it for a purpose so that it becomes a more useable and therefore more valuable animal.

I have only just begun to get serious about buying my own horse. At first, I wanted to wait until I was done with school, but now I'm not so sure. This way I would have a riding horse and a foal to train right away, and that sounds really good to me.

Good News/Bad News

2008-11-21T19:18:00.007-06:00

In the good news/bad news scenario, I always like the bad news first so that the good news cheers me up again. So the bad news is that my perfect precious little pookie kitty (aka Wicca) hurt her leg on Wednesday. I had a terrible headache- you know the kind that make you want to dig out your eyes with an ice cream scoop- so I went to bed at roughly 6pm.

Wicca always comes to bed with me, and since I sleep with the bedroom door shut, she starts to bounce around the bed to wake me up when she wants out of the room. At roughly 8pm, I woke to the sound of my bedside lamp toppling to the floor. Apparently, Wicca snagged her leg on the cord and pulled it off the table when she jumped down. Either the lamp hit her or she twisted her leg during the incident.

I let her out of the room, and she was moving very slowly, limping and favoring her left hind leg. Opportunistic Aiko noticed this and immediately pounced on Wicca, and as I reprimanded her, Cherise pounced her too! Naughty Kitty, Cherise is Wicca's mother and she should know better.

I palpated Wicca's leg and she squirmed and got away and cowered beneath the TV stand. After I coaxed her out, I completed my exam. Thankfully, there were no broken bones or lacerations, heat or swelling. I suppose that it's just bruised. Poor baby. She's still limping today.

Are you ready for the good news?

Gas is down to $1.69 a gallon! I just treated Sadie's gas guzzling tank to its fullest capacity for only $25 dollars. Hallelujah! It's about fricken time! Plus, I live so close to the school now that I'm using a lot less gas than I used to. I'm hoping this tank will last until mid-January.

Brokedown Palace

2008-11-17T23:41:00.011-06:00

I was looking at some old pictures on my Photobucket account, and I was particularly moved by the series of photos I took on the weekend that my came to Fulton to look for an apartment. My former supervisor offered to bring me down because I was worried about whether my car would make it, and she has family in the area, so it just worked out. Initially, we were going to stay with her relatives, but they were busy that weekend.

First, I just want to say that I miss my job, my boss and my coworkers more than words can say. I loved my job at JoAnn Fabrics, and I was just about to hit my 5 year anniversary when I left. There were many times that I couldn't wait to get to work and so I would get there way early. Everyone should be as blessed. Shortly after I moved, I woke up crying because I was dreaming about work and I missed it so much.

OK, I got off track. Carolyn and I came down, and I had an appointment with a leasing agent to look at several places. When we arrived, he said he couldn't leave the office and would we mind just taking the keys and a map and showing ourselves around (that's professional). So off we went to look at affordable houses/duplexes.

My requirements were simple. I needed a place with 2 bedrooms that allowed cats. The first duplex was pretty decent; it had a carport, beautiful hardwood floors and all appliances (including washer and dryer) and it also had a sweet white cat sitting on the stoop and I immediately named him Jocomo. But this place wasn't perfect; the cat wasn't neutered and it only it had 1 bedroom. But the real deal breaker for me was the absence of any sort of trim or moulding around the windows and doors. I mean, you could see DAYLIGHT through them!

The next place was AWESOME! on the outside. But once you got inside it was another story. It had new siding, a flowerbed, a garage, a nice big tree in the front and a lovely overhang above the front steps. But inside it was dark and scary with brown stained toilet and bathtub and floors and countertops and sinks and walls. Not to mention the disgusting crud upon all of the aforementioned amenities. It had a hardwood floor that was missing boards and looked suspiciously like it would like to cave in and send you straight to the depths of HELL! So, I didn't really like that place... we called it Nightmare on Elm Street because that's where it was and the shoe fit.

The next 2 places were in the same townhouse complex. The first one was a lovely two-story unit. All the rooms were huge and there were walk-in closets in all the rooms. There was a patio with a bar-b-que grill and a tiny snip of a yard, garages were available and it had an eat-in chicken- I mean kitchen. The only thing wrong was that the walls needed a fresh coat of paint and it was $100 out of my price range.

The next townhouse was one level, first floor, with noisy upstairs neighbors with kids. This place also needed fresh paint but the real problem for me was the water marks and mold on the ceiling and walls in the living room. Upon closer inspection, it became evident that the mold extended into the carpet as well. Suffice it to say, I found this dwelling unacceptable.

The next place had a terrific backyard perfect for a dog or pony. I already had a dog picked out that was left homeless after the flood in Cedar Rapids. He was a little black and white spotted dog that I named Freckles. But the house was all topsy-turvy Alice in Wonderland/Grace Slick singing vibrato "Wahn peelll makes you lahrgerrr and whan peelll makes you smwallll". In the living room you were normal size, but if you went into the kitchen you got a little bit smaller, and in any of the 3 bedrooms you were a giant! It was the damnedest thing... Only one of the bedrooms was big enough to actually put a queen sized bed in, and even then you wouldn't be able to close one door or open the other.

As I was wandering around mystified, I heard Carolyn laughing hysterically. When I found her, she was red faced and gasping "I found the bathroom!!" The door to the bathroom was about 1/2 the size of a normal door and you had to kind of turn sideways to get in. Once you did, you were confronted with the tiniest little bathroom sink in the world. It was about the size of a dinner plate, I shit you not. So now we're both laughing like hyenas. About that time, it started to rain. Scratch that. It started to downpour. It had been miserably humid all day and finally it broke into a furious thunderstorm. That's how we discovered the roof leaked... in many places.

We decided to stay at the house until the storm blew over, and I began to have doubts about even moving at all. What if i couldn't find a decent place to live? How was I going to afford to move? Where would I work? I was full of uncertainties and I realized how difficult it would be to once again move to a new city, where I didn't know a single soul, alone. It was especially hard because I love living in Cedar Rapids so much that it was hard to make the decision to leave it. I went through a lot of changes there and made some terrific friends and reformed my life. Carolyn listened as I voiced all of my secret fears. Eventually the storm passed, but I had finally admitted to not being quite as sure of myself as I had originally let on.

We looked at so many places it's hard to keep them all straight, but it seemed like each one was even more nasty that the last. There was one place where it reeked of dog piss and the carpet looked as if the previous tenants smoked a pack a day but didn't have any ashtrays. This charming place also had 2 holes in the living room walls and "fuck you" scrawled in red lipstick across the bathroom mirror. The back door was kicked in and it gave me the willies. Finally, we dropped off the keys at the leasing agent and Carolyn told them that she was appalled that they even let us look at some of those properties.

Next, I had an appointment at the university. I had some financial aid paperwork to drop off and some housing referrals to pick up. While I was there, the recruitment Dean, Jimmy Clay, offered to drive us around town and point out some possibilities. He seemed really taken with one particular building. It was a large old Victorian house that had been remodeled into a teen pregnancy shelter, but was now vacant. I don't even think it was for rent. We drove by like 3 times before he pulled over and suggested we go look in the windows.

After we got back to the school, it was getting late in the day and we wanted to check into a hotel. Jimmy offered to put us up in the Holiday Inn and the school foot the bill which was pretty sweet. I needed to call some of the rental numbers I had written down. One of the places I called was my current landlord. What's funny is that I talked to her earlier in the week and we got along well on the phone for about 1/2 an hour. She was mailing me a copy of the floor plans for the 2 units she had available. I asked if I could drop by to have a look and she said maybe the next day. I explained that we were heading home the next day and she agreed to see us that evening.

I loved the apartment as soon as I walked in the door. It instantly felt like home. The living room is huge- you could probably do about 5 cartwheels in it! It was clean and bright and cheerful. It didn't smell funny and it just felt so right. Plus this apartment complex has the same name as the shopping center where I worked in Cedar Rapids, AND I found a 4 leaf clover when I was walking across the lawn. Carolyn saw my face and she said "This is it isn't it?" I filled out the application and off we went.

On the way home the next day, I made a pro/con list about moving and Carolyn talked me through each one. When she asked, "If it wasn't for your money problems would you do it?" and I answered, "Yes" I realized that it really all just came down to money. Then she asked if I didn't go now would I go later or not at all. I answered that I would go later, after I saved up more money. Then, she pointed out that if I go now I would probably qualify for a better financial aid package than if I waited. Which I knew was true.

So anyway, you know how this story turns out... I wish I had written about all of this in a more timely fashion, but I was in a state of flux and wasn't posting very frequently at the time.

What a Coinkydink

2008-11-16T19:42:00.008-06:00

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln 's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln .

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford'.
Kennedy was shot in a car called ' Lincoln ' made by 'Ford'.

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the kicker... A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe , Maryland A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

1) Fold a NEW $20 bill in half... 2) Fold again, taking care to fold it exactly as below 3) Fold the other end, exactly as before 4) Now, simply turn it over... What a coincidence! A simple geometric fold creates a catastrophic premonition printed on all $20 bills!!!

COINCIDENCE? YOU DECIDE As if that wasn't enough... Here is what you've seen... Firstly The Pentagon on fire...

Then The Twin Towers...And now .. look at this! TRIPLE COINCIDENCE ON A SIMPLE $20 BILL Disaster (Pentagon)Disaster ( Twin Towers )Disaster (Osama)???

It gets even better 9 + 11 = $20!

I Redecorated!

2008-11-13T21:58:00.002-06:00

It's been 2 years since I started this blog and the old fannymanson template was starting to get old and smell funny, so I threw it out and got this brand, spankin new one! I realize that a lot of my old posts are practically invisible now because of the lighter background, but I can go back and fix those, I guess. But in the meantime, you can just highlite them and read them just fine. I'm still workin out the kinks, like, where did the Blogger toolbar go? It's not there when I'm logged in and that needs to change. Also, I lost my sidebar info so I have to fix that too. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the makeover, but if any of you geniuses have any helpful tips on fixing either of those two problems I mentioned, please let me know.

A Real, Honest to Goodness Blog Post!

2008-11-12T23:08:00.008-06:00

Ok, so I realize that I've been doing "cheater" posts. Just little snippets here and there to fill up space with very little personal content. For that I must apologize. I know you don't come here for crap like that. But you know what it's like when you get busy. So here's an update from William Woods...

I have a sadistic teacher who likes to assign essays. LOTS of essays. I should mention that I have her for 3 classes; Ethics, Sociology and Social Movements of the 1960's. We had a four day weekend for fall break and I had 8 papers to write, all for her classes. Plus her tests are essay questions as well. But guess what!? On my most recent Ethics test I got a perfect score, plus I nailed the two bonus questions, for a grand total of 115 points! Pretty sweet, huh? And, if you read my two earlier posts, I scored 95 points on my paper about AIM and 90 points on the Bastards of the Party. I'm pleased with those grades, but I will admit this semester is a lot more difficult than I originally anticipated.

My most difficult class is Philosophy. Its like nonsense. Jibber-jabber. Crazy talk. Can't make sense of it. Near as I can figure, its all about ancient guys questioning whether physical objects exist, and whether God exists, and whether people exist outside of our minds. It's awfully difficult to grasp, and the teacher is practically a genius. He's so smart, but it's hard to learn for him because he talks full speed without slowing down for people to take notes. Plus, his handwriting is basically illegible, so the chicken scratch he writes on the board is useless. But despite my confusion, I got an A on the last test. My study method entails typing my notes from class, and then color coding them and organizing them into sections of related material, then I just reread it a couple times.

My favorite class this semester is watercolor. I find contentment in watching the colors sink into the paper. I'm glad to say that my artistic abilities haven't diminished through the years of neglect. In high school, I was a pretty good artist, and now my art professor is trying to convince me to change my major. I'm not going to, of course, but I did give it a bit of consideration, but just for, like, a second. It was flattering to feel like someone whom I consider to be an expert saw enough potential in me to even make the suggestion.

But I am super-psyched for the next semester! I'm finally starting some horse classes at the Woods, which, after all is why I came here in the first place. THREE of my classmates from Kirkwood are transferring to the Woods in January! Amy, Miranda, and Abby are all smart fun girls who I have a lot of respect and admiration for and I can't wait for them to get here. I don't really fit in on this campus because it's a residential campus and everybody has their little clicks. Plus, I am 15 years older than the rest of my classmates. At least at a community college there's a more diverse student body, not so much at the private school. So yeah, it's just going to keep on getting better!

My work study job at the art building is wonderful. You might remember at first, I was really confused about what I was supposed to do. It seemed too easy. But then I realized I don't have to do anything, just be there from 6-10pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's it. I walk around a couple times an hour and that's about it. The rest of the time is mine to study, paint, read, talk on the phone or whatever. Then, on Friday mornings, I go in early and wipe tables for an hour and a half. Secretly it doesn't really take that long, but I stretch it out as best I can.

I might have an opportunity to work at one of the Woods' barns over Christmas break! They need to hire 8 people to feed and water the horses, do turnout and clean stalls. There would be 2 people per barn (4 barns) and they pay minimum wage (shitty) for no more than 40 hours per week. I am a bit leery because the email they sent out said the job will probably require more than 40 hours of work over 6 days per week, but that they would only pay for 40 hours. Now, I'm pretty sure that's illegal. It's exploitation and taking advantage of people and I absolutely refuse to contribute my time for free. So, I'm going to go to an informational meeting next week and get the scoop. And if that's really what they do, I'm not above notifying the state labor department, because that is unfair labor practices. Do you think I'm right or wrong in that??

Bushisms

2008-11-12T08:17:00.002-06:00

Our President is so funny, and the kicker is that he's not even trying! I stumbled on some hilarious "Bushisms" the other day, and then I looked more up on the internet. This should be good for a laugh:

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

“I’m going to try to see if I can remember as much to make it sound like I’m smart on the subject.” –George W. Bush, answering a question about a possible flu pandemic, Cleveland, July 10, 2007

“You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket — in this case, a woman more money in her pocket to expand a business, it — they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building somebody has got to come and build the building. And when the building expanded it prevented additional opportunities for people to work.” –George W. Bush, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

“I heard somebody say, ‘Where’s (Nelson) Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead. Because Saddam killed all the Mandelas.” –George W. Bush, on the former South African president, who is still very much alive, Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007

"They misunderestimated me." —Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it.

One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.

There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like. [12/13/2002]

Will the highways on the Internet become more few?

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."—as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

"I can press when there needs to be pressed; I can hold hands when there needs to be—hold hands."—on how he can contribute to the Middle East peace process, Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2008

"Suiciders are willing to kill innocent life in order to send the projection that this is an impossible mission."—Washington, D.C., April 3, 2007 (Thanks to Garry Trudeau.)

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

Anyway, this could go on forever, so just google "Bushisms" if you still want more.

Ridiculously Cute Critters

2008-11-06T09:42:00.002-06:00

Up On The Hill

2008-11-05T10:01:00.000-06:00

This shit makes me sooooooooo happy. I can't even believe it!

Leftover Salmon, 9/12/08, Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival

Stacy Westfall Kicks Ass!

2008-11-04T18:37:00.003-06:00

I found this to be amazing and inspiring and I hope you will too. I think even my non-horsey friends can appreciate Stacy's awesome riding skills. Please take the time to watch the video clip, it's wonderful!

Stacy Westfall and Whizards Baby Doll at the 2006 Tulsa Reining Classic

Westfall Wins Tulsa Reining Classic Without Saddle or Bridle
Stacy Westfall became the first person ever to win the freestyle event without tack at the Tulsa Reining Classic on September 1.

September 13, 2006 -- Road to the Horse champion Stacy Westfall astonished crowds at the Tulsa Reining Classic on September 1 when she rode without a bridle or saddle to claim top honors with a score of 151 (a combination of two judges; scores; a 140 is an average, no-faults run). Westfall is the first person ever to win the freestyle event without tack.

Westfall defended her 2005 title by winning the 2006 competition while riding Whizards Baby Doll to the Tim McGraw song "Live Like You Were Dying."

"She has become a crowd favorite, and people were lined up for hours to get her autograph," says event coordinator Jenifer Reynolds. "Stacy is an amazing horsewoman and a gracious competitor."

Westfall says she decided to go bridle-less and saddle-less to see if it could be done. "For the challenge of it," she says. "I chose the song because it was a risk and an adventure. All of the maneuvers at a high rate of speed become difficult--especially the sliding stop with nothing to balance against. It is more difficult than just bareback with a bridle because you have to remember that every time my legs move I am cueing my horse to go somewhere. So if I slip and hold on with my legs it causes me to accidentally steer--then I am going somewhere unplanned. Ironically, I won a saddle after that ride!"

(http://www.equisearch.com/)

Movie Night/Slumber Party Carmel Corn

2008-11-03T18:16:00.001-06:00

This is an old family favorite of ours. Here's the recipe, directly from my mother.

Movie Night/Slumber Party Carmel Corn

Ingredients
2 full size bags of popped microwave popcorn (plain or kettle corn)
Medium sized brown paper bag
1 stick butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t vanilla

Directions
1. Pop 2 bags of microwave popcorn and then pour into brown paper bag.
2. You may wish to discard any unpopped kernels.
3. Combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt in a microwave safe bowl.
4. Microwave on high for 4 minutes, stirring after each minute.
5. Add baking soda and vanilla and stir until well blended.
6. Pour carmel mixture over popcorn in the brown paper bag and stir.
7. Close the bag and microwave it for 1 & 1/2 minutes, remove and shake.
8. Microwave again for 1 minute and shake.
9. Microwave for 1/2 minute and shake.
10. Pour molten hot carmel corn onto a foil lined baking sheet to cool.

Halloween Photo Montage

2008-10-31T15:38:00.000-05:00

I've assembled a photo montage of my Halloween celebrations from year's past! I love Halloween... it's my favorite!

God's Gift (Nelson & Rachel) (Chicago)

Cheech n Chong (Chicago)

Amanda (Chicago)

Me (New Orleans)

Fun People in New Orleans (I ran into that guy a year later in Vegas of all places!)

Charles and me (New Orleans)

Amanda and Charles (New Orleans)

Charles, Amanda and me (New Orleans)

Charles and Super spooky sexy scary spider woman glamour girl (me) (Chicago)

My hair and Spider

Better than Crack Cheesy Bread Recipe

2008-10-24T15:12:00.001-05:00

Ingredients

1 loaf of French Bread
1 stick Butter, softened
1/2 c Mayo or Miracle Whip
1 pkg Italian blend or Mozzerella cheese
1t garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)
1t onion powder
1t Italian seasoning (or Oregano or Sweet basil or some of each)
Dash of salt

Directions

Mix all ingredients well (except bread of course).
Cover a baking sheet with aluminum for for easy clean up.
Spread mixture on slices of French Bread and place on baking sheet.
Broil briefly until topping is hot and bubbly and starts to brown.

Thank me later.

Knowledge is Power

2008-10-20T16:02:00.002-05:00

The two preceding posts are papers I wrote for school. I have worked very hard on these assignments and they are the reason I have not posted anything personal or trivial on here lately.

The first one deals with the Bloods and the Crips and how the gangs began in Los Angeles and the second one deals with the American Indian movement in the 1970s. While these two social upheavals take place in a different place and time and involve two different groups of people, I think there are many parallels between them. Both of these heartbreaking plights have deeply affected me.

I would like everyone to please read these two papers and expand their knowledge of problems within our society. It's important to recognize mistakes that we have made in the past so that we will not make the same mistakes in the future.

The American Indian Movement

2008-10-20T14:57:00.003-05:00

The roots of the American Indian Movement stretch so far back that it is difficult to discern a definitive beginning. The following account is an examination of circumstances that led up to the incipiency of AIM including a short history of the problems facing the Indian Nation before AIM. The latter portion of this review deals specifically with two incidents involving AIM in 1973 and 1975.

In 1879, Richard Henry Pratt, a military man turned educator, founded the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle Pennsylvania. He got the idea from witnessing natives who were in prison in Florida. Pratt realized that reeducation wouldn’t work on adults, so he set his sights on Native American children. He plucked children from the Lakota and Spotted Tail Reservations in South Dakota. Parents allowed him to take their kids because there was a language barrier and it wasn’t clear what his intentions actually were.

This drastically affected the children. Many had bad experiences at the Carlisle Indian School. When the children arrived at the school, they wore buckskin, buffalo hide and beaver pelts. They slept on the floor and spoke their native language. Pratt was convinced that changing appearances and changing their language would change the Indian into a white man. Their clothing and medicine bags were burned, their hair was cut and they were forbidden to speak in their native tongue. Pratt also required that they choose a new name. Names were put on a blackboard and they had to point to new one.

Indian schools spread across the nation to 25 schools in 15 states. The schools were modeled after the military. Children answered to whistles and bugles and every day was controlled and systematic. They received an education and taught a trade. They learned individualism and ambition rather than their native communal group mentality.

The key to reeducation was separation. The schools were intentionally located far from the reservations so the kids could not go home at all. Parents occasionally came to visit but time was short. Families were lonely and cut off from one another.
Although some of the children felt safe and protected at the Indian schools, some secretly held on to their native values and traditions. Others openly refused to cooperate. Children who disobeyed faced solitary confinement in the school’s guardhouse or became rebels and runaways.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha, was immensely popular in the late 1800’s. The poem rewrote Indian history to reflect white values and the Indian schools allowed the children to form a drama club. It gave them an opportunity to wear their native costumes and dance. Acting in the drama club gave them a history that was acceptable. They were assimilated once they accepted the white perspective of their own families.

The Outing System was a chance for Native American teens to leave the school and live with white families. However, white people treated them like servants and they faced rejection in the job market. Many were simply told to go back the reservation. Pratt felt betrayed by those students who “went back to the blanket” and he believed that they didn’t appreciate his efforts and he felt contempt for them.

Both Indians and whites now ostracized these young people. They had lost the language of their people and they lived in a shadow world and felt like they didn’t fit in anywhere. These boarding schools created confused and lonely Indians. These lost souls later rediscovered themselves through the American Indian Movement in the 1960’s.

In 1928, Louis Meriam led a commission to study conditions on the reservations. The government knew things were bad but they didn’t have any figures to reference. The Meriam Report found that the Native American population had the highest infant mortality rates, the highest suicide rates, highest rate of alcoholism, highest rate of unemployment and the shortest life expectancy in the United States.

The report concluded that the reeducation and allotment policy was bad, but that the policy of assimilation was still the right course of action. The government knew that the federal Indian policy must be overhauled but in 1929, the Great Depression stonewalled the revisions.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt attempted to do something about the terrible conditions on the reservations when he appointed John Collier as his Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1933. Collier had worked extensively with the Navajos in the southwest and was perceived as sociological expert on Indians.

The Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934 aka the Indian Reorganization Act, aka the “Indian New Deal” officially reversed allotment policies that privatized portions of the reservations and authorized the government to buy back traditional lands to give back to the tribes. It also set up a system of tribal self-government and gave them a supporter within the government to develop Indian policy. It recognized the government’s past mistakes and allowed tribes the right to self-determination. Perhaps the most important aspect of all was that the act recognized the validity of tribal religion, spirituality and sovereignty.

Budgetary restrictions caused health services to remain tragically inadequate on the reservations. Limited access to health care caused high infant mortality and short life expectancy. The Indian Reorganization Act provided short-term relief but the underlying problems were still there. Indian factionalism was worse than ever and tribes were torn between keeping their traditional beliefs and customs and the progressive desire for change. Unfortunately, the Indian Reorganization Act did not accomplish John Collier’s initiatives because of the lack of funding left in the federal coffers after the Great Depression.

By 1945, the government believed they could best assimilate Native Americans by enacting the policy of termination. Termination meant that they would no longer recognize Indian tribes or the tribal governments, which meant that the tribes would no longer govern themselves. The Bureau of Indian Affairs designated tribes they believed were prosperous enough to support themselves after federal funding was ceased. After the process of termination began, they quickly realized it was a disaster and reversed the policy.

Problems outlined in the Meriam Report persisted on reservations. Because Native Americans live rurally and usually on very poor land, they have no jobs and very little money. The goal of the United States government’s relocation project was to relocate the natives to urban areas and encourage them to find employment there. The government hoped that this would finally help the Indians to assimilate and terminate the reservations.

The government asked for volunteers for relocation. The volunteers received a one-way ticket to an urban area, help moving and a one-month subsistence payment to help them settle in. The government also provided job training and medical care. The cities of Minneapolis, Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle were target cities. In 1950, 13.4% of Native Americans lived in urban areas however; by 1970, that number had climbed to 44%.

Many of the natives who volunteered for relocation lived in slum areas and suffered from high rates of poverty and drug and alcohol abuse. They felt left behind in the fast-paced environment of the city and they had difficulty adjusting to life in a big city because they were used to small close-knit communities. Eventually they formed the membership base of the American Indian Movement.

Three Ojibwa ex-cons founded the American Indian Movement in 1968 in Minneapolis, MN. Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellacourt and George Mitchell first formed AIM to address the problem of police brutality against Native Americans in Minneapolis. They believed they were waiting in vain for the government to change its policies towards American Indians. AIM’s goals included self-determination and international recognition of their treaty of rights through peaceful negotiation. Never the less, AIM members often carried guns as a policy of self-defense when threatened by outside forces.

This radical militancy undermined many of the good things that could have come from their uprising. Their weapons caused the U.S. government to label them as a terrorist organization and the government has a strict policy of not negotiating with terrorists. No drugs or alcohol was permitted at an AIM sponsored event in order to help improve their image and to make sure they were taken seriously. Some AIM members were very controversial. Vine DeLoria wrote his first book, Custer Died for Your Sins in 1969, and in 1971, Dee Brown’s book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee topped the bestseller list. These two books further stirred the pot of unrest.

The United Indians of all Tribes occupied the derelict prison on Alcatraz Island for 19 months from 1969 through 1971. It was a symbolic invasion based on a forgotten provision giving Native Americans the right to reclaim abandoned federal properties for the Indian Nations. The occupation demonstrated that American Indians had formed a real solidarity with one another. This of course was a huge embarrassment to the government. As retribution, the administration shut down the electricity to the island and stopped barges from transporting people to and from Alcatraz. Although this occupation was not exclusively an AIM sponsored event, the publicity it generated enabled AIM to grow more rapidly.

1970 was a busy year for AIM members. They continued their occupation of federal properties by occupying an abandoned naval air station near Minneapolis, MN to draw attention to the need for education among Indian children. AIM also assisted an Ojibwa tribe in Wisconsin to occupy a hydroelectric dam that had flooded much of their reservation. They were successful in gaining a land grant and additional money and business opportunities for the Ojibwa. In addition, on Thanksgiving Day protesters demonstrated at Plymouth Rock.

AIM was a warrior society. They wanted to protect and preserve the values of their people through confrontational politics. In 1972, The American Indian Movement, along with eight other Indian rights groups, brought The Trail of Broken Treaties to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. They staged an occupation of the BIA as a stinging political statement and demanded recognition of over 300 broken treaties negotiated by the U.S. Government with Native American tribes. AIM marched into Washington DC and presented a list of grievances and a summary of 20 points to President Nixon. The government promised to review the 20 points and provide the protesters with transportation home.

In 1972, Dick Wilson was the chairman of the Tribal Council. He was responsible for administering Indian funds but he was as crooked as a snake and he kept some of the money and supplies for himself and the Guardians of the Ogallala Nation, better known as the Goon Squad. The Goon Squad was essentially a death squad, an out-of-control, power hungry group of vigilantes who persecuted and stalked traditionalists who wanted less governmental involvement in Indian affairs. Wilson wanted to control the reservation and since he technically worked for the government, they never called his unfair tactics into question.

In 1973, a white man had killed a local youth named Wesley Bad Heart Bull and the charges brought against him were minimal. Members of the Pine Ridge Reservation felt that they had to take a stand, so they staged a protest with AIM in Custer, SD. During the clash with police, Wesley’s mother was arrested for assaulting a police officer. She was tried and sent to prison for three to five years. Wilson denounced AIM’s actions and banned them from Pine Ridge.

Tensions were building on the Pine Ridge Reservation because the conflict between the traditionalists and progressives was raging. They suffered extreme poverty, alcoholism, disease and governmental neglect. They had no protection from Wilson and his regime and they felt fear, anxiety, tension and animosity towards tribal police and the BIA. The people felt defeat and despair because they were not even safe in their own homes, for it was not unheard of for the Goon Squad to come storming in on them.

The U.S. government was sympathetic to Wilson and supported him. The Goons terrorized the traditionalists on the reservation and killed many, many people. There were frequent shootouts and people were afraid to leave their homes. Goon Squad was unchecked and no one did anything to stop the violence. They formed alliances of convenience with the BIA and soon Federal Marshals arrived at the Pine Ridge Reservation to help control the violence.

The locals requested assistance from AIM in dealing with corruption from local BIA and tribal police. In February 1973, AIM members and about 200 activists participated in a 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee, the infamous slaughtering grounds where Big Foot and 250 of his followers were massacred in 1890. They chose this location because it was symbolic to the American Indians and represented their desire for sovereignty.

The government surrounded the compound and fired over half a million rounds of ammunition over the course of the stand off. The Goon Squad captured twelve activists as they were attempting to bring supplies into Wounded Knee and their disappearance has never been explained. The FBI negotiated with AIM leaders and eventually they came to a truce when the government promised to investigate AIM’s grievances concerning treatment of American Indians.

During their time at Wounded Knee, the activists observed a wedding ceremony and a birth within the compound. The occupation took the lives of two Native Americans, Buddy Lamont and Frank Clearwater. However, the media portrayed it as a real life game of “Cowboys and Indians” in which the Indians were the bad guys and the FBI were the good guys. Although it brought media attention to the reservation, the influence of the activists was only temporary and ended once the cameras were gone.

In 1975, two cars came speeding onto the Pine Ridge Reservation. They were FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams with a warrant for the arrest of Jimmy Eagle for the theft of a pair of cowboy boots. They arrived at the Jumping Bull Ranch, a community of four houses, whose twelve residents were camping in the woods near their homes.

When they saw the cars driving up, they assumed it was the Goon Squad and they secured weapons to protect themselves. A shootout followed in which Agent Coler was hit in the arm and later through his jaw. When Agent Adams arrived, the Indians shot out his tire. The bullet that killed Agent Williams went right through his hand and into his head. AIM member Joe Stuntz was shot in the head. He died as well as FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams.

The FBI declared that the two agents were killed execution style. Three American Indians Dino Butler, Bob Robideau and Leonard Peltier, were tried for the deaths of the federal agents, but no agents were tried for the death of Joe Stuntz. Butler and Robideau’s trials took place in my former hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The prosecution presented 4000 pieces of evidence from 13 states. They tried to show that the bullets came from Butler and Robideau’s weapons, but the defense countered that lots of people were shooting and it could not be determined who fired which weapon.

An inmate named James Harper shared a cell with Butler. He testified that Butler confessed to plotting against the judge and jury. Later Harper’s landlady came forward and exposed his testimony was a lie. He had rehearsed the story to try to gain favor with the courts in his own case.

Eventually, defense lawyers showed it was a case of self-defense and that the Indians reacted out of fear due to the high tensions on the reservation. When the jury came back, they smiled at the defendants as they rendered their not guilty verdict. Both Butler and Robideau were acquitted. The FBI agents in the courtroom were upset by the verdict and many of them began crying. The prosecution claimed that the jury had been intimidated by AIM, but the jury foreman said they were not intimidated and they never saw any Indians during the trial. The acquittal was given because there was no solid evidence and the jurors had reasonable doubt.

Sadly, Leonard Peltier fled to Canada after the shootout and was extradited much later. He was found guilty and is now serving two life sentences at a penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Repeated appeals have not yet been successful and one can only hope that our next president will grant him clemency.

The AIM incidents at Wounded Knee and Pine Ridge garnered the most attention from the media. AIM leaders organized other protests such as Clyde Bellacourt’s “Longest Walk” in 1978 but these were much less publicized. AIM members began to go underground in the late 1970s because of fear of legal persecution.

Some of the positive outcomes from AIM’s actions include bringing more awareness for issues facing Native Americans and increasing memberships in Indian welfare organizations. AIM also encouraged the establishment of tribal colleges and the introduction of Native American Studies at other colleges and universities. Additionally AIM helped bring accessible health care to the reservations.

Today, AIM is much less militant and more spiritual. The headquarters are still in Minneapolis, MN and in fact, last week AIM held a meeting for the national directors of AIM chapters to plan the future of AIM. Currently, their goal is to coordinate all of the regional chapters and help establish new chapters to meet the needs of the American Indian people. They seek to influence policies that will benefit their people. “AIM has repeatedly brought successful suit against the federal government for the protection of the rights of Native Americans guaranteed in treaties, sovereignty, the United States Constitution, and laws. The philosophy of self-determination upon which the movement is built is deeply rooted in traditional spirituality, culture, language and history” (Waterman et. al.).

Bloods and Crips- The Bastards of the Party

2008-10-16T10:03:00.000-05:00

In the film, The Bastards of the Party, Cle “Bone” Sloan is exploring the emergence of the two main gangs in Los Angeles, the Bloods and the Crips. Sloan recalls stumbling across an old map of his neighborhood that showed the territories of various gangs, which caused him to wonder how far back the counter culture of gang rivalry reached and where it got its roots. His ultimate position is that gang participants misunderstand the reason that gangs evolved in the first place. He emphasizes that modern gang warfare does more harm than good and therefore it needs to end.

The film documents the period from the late 1940s through 2005 and provides an enlightening history of the black movement in LA. In the 1940’s, black people in America were suffering immense poverty. They came to Los Angeles in search of jobs and a new life. They settled in the neighborhoods surrounding Central Avenue and soon a plethora of R&B music and dance clubs sprung up.

Unfortunately, this area was also home to racist whites who despised the blacks who had migrated to the area. In the late 40’s and early 50’s, black people inhabited more and more “white neighborhoods”. They suffered persecution from the white people who called them racist names, chased them, beat them and terrorized them. Police Chief William Parker set out to destroy the music scene and intentionally recruited racist officers from the southern U.S. The police participated in this racial harassment and offered no protection to the black community. Understandably, black people began to form vigilante neighborhood groups for protection. They were forced to get tough to defend themselves and their right to live wherever they chose.

In the late 50s through the 1960s, the desegregated urban areas of Los Angeles began to experience a phenomenon known as “white flight”. The white middle class left a ghetto suffering from poverty, unemployment, poor schools and crumbling infrastructure. White supremacy had labeled blacks as less-than-human and, as middle class whites moved out to the suburbs, the inner city was left to the poorer black people. Territorial pride and a fierce determination to defend their neighborhoods eventually caused black people to turn on one another.

The 1960s was a particularly tumultuous time when black community experienced the loss of two of their most influential leaders. Malcolm X was killed in 1965 followed by the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Although LAPD saw the self-genocide within the black community, they were disinclined to intervene because of the deeply rooted racism within the force. In fact, officers were often involved in the lynching of black youth. Yet again, black people were forced to defend themselves against racist police brutality.

In 1965, racial tensions were as high as ever. It all came to a head during the Watts Riots when a police traffic stop quickly turned chaotic and resulted in the largest riot the city had ever seen. Black people united to drive the police out of the Watts neighborhood. A huge fire spread throughout the inner city and destroyed over 200 buildings, 34 people died and nearly 4000 were arrested. This riot served to unite the previously divided black community.

In the aftermath of the Watts Riots, Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter founded the LA chapter of the Black Panther Party and later, Ron Karenga formed the Us Organization. These two groups were recruiting heavily in the black community and often found themselves at odds with one another. The FBI wanted to let these two groups destroy one another and consequently looked the other way when tensions arose.

In January 1969, “Bunchy” Carter and John Huggins were killed on the UCLA campus and the Us Organization took the blame, which increased the hostilities between the two groups. The FBI took a stance of noninterference, preferring to let black people exterminate one another. Later, an FBI memo surfaced from the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) admitting that the FBI deliberately caused the unrest that led to the murders.

Stanley “Tookie” Williams and Raymond Washington founded the Crips in 1969, taking the name from the correlation of their own youth and a baby crib and the phrase “from the cradle to the grave”. Initially, their intent was to continue the black power movement started by the Black Panthers. They were fueled by the need to protect their neighborhood from racist members of the LAPD as well as rival neighborhood groups. Membership grew quickly but due to a lack of leadership and organizational structure, the group unfortunately succumbed to street violence.

In 1972, the Crips were fighting fiercely with other neighborhood gangs. Some gangs felt that they were still a part of the black movement and continued recruiting in other neighborhoods. The Crips decided anyone who stood up to them was a rival. This led to the Piru Street Boys merging with many other gangs to defend against the Crips. This coalition formed the Bloods, the Crips most dangerous adversary. Both of these groups craved power and control of the streets.

In the late 1970’s, the inner city population suffered a massive breakdown when 14 of the largest factories in Los Angeles closed and left 50,000 people unemployed. Many of the people who lost their jobs were black men that did not have training for other types of employment and therefore felt weakened and emasculated by this economic disaster. Black families began to collapse without the income and leadership of the head of the household.

A huge boom in the drug trade followed in the 1980s, fueled by the Iran Contra Affair. The U.S received huge shipments of narcotics from Nicaragua. Gang members ultimately sold these drugs. The money earned from the drug trade was used by the Nicaraguans to buy weapons to supply the Contras who were fighting the Sandinista Revolution. The Nicaraguans bought those weapons from Iran, who acquired the weapons from Israel, who received them from the United States for two reasons; first, because there was a moratorium on giving money directly to the Nicaraguans; and second, in order to negotiate the release of six hostages held by Hezbollah. It was a very complicated matter.

Drug cartels exploited the poverty and desperation of inner city black gang members. Drug dealing provided these men with a steady income and a sense of pride and unity in belonging. Gangs were a support system that provided employment in a jobless community; however, the drug trade drastically escalated gang violence. During the late 1980s, gangs made the shift from beatings to murder. Cle “Bone” Sloan postulates that the killings started because gang members didn’t know how to fight and were afraid to lose and accept defeat.

Now that gang members had plenty of money, they began to venture out of their respective neighborhoods and into mainstream public venues. Gang members felt compelled to target their enemy whenever and wherever they encountered members of rival gangs. Previously, the LAPD looked the other way because of the long-standing tradition of racism and permissive attitude towards the cultural genocide within the black inner city population. However, at this point, police began to crack down on gang violence because it began to affect a wider segment of the population.

In 1987, the LAPD launched Operation Hammer. This assault was a widespread effort to send a message to gang members in LA. The police indiscriminately incarcerated over 1400 people in just one weekend raid. Police also engaged in acts of humiliation and brutality, some officers even intentionally and needlessly destroyed private property. These actions added fuel to the fire that burned beneath race relations and the police force.

In 1992, the acquittal of the four white police officers who beat black motorist Rodney King sparked the worst riots LA has experienced to date. The verdict was handed down at around 3pm. By 7pm, rioters targeted other motorists including a white truck driver, Reginald Denny and Guatemalan construction worker, Fidel Lopez. By 9pm, the city was in a state of emergency and the governor had mobilized the National Guard. After six days of rioting, over 1000 buildings burned, 54 people died and over 10,000 people were arrested. A year later, the Rodney King case was retried and two officers were found guilty while the other two were acquitted.

The Bloods and the Crips organized a Truce Picnic to show unity. The press was invited and marketing ploys such as T-shirts and ball caps were employed. The picnic had a party atmosphere, although tensions quivered just barely beneath the surface. Unfortunately, this truce didn’t last, because the gangs still lacked direction and focus and a leader to further unify and inspire them.

In the view of Cle “Bone” Sloan, there have been too many killings for the gangs to simply forgive and forget. He said there will always be someone with a score to settle because gang members pledge to get revenge for those who have died in gang warfare. At the end of the film, Sloan denounces gang activity and expresses a desire for the black community to heal and move forward with the intent of fostering a brighter future for the next generation.

Personally, I do not believe in assigning fault because blame is an act of frustration and resentment, not of reason. If I had to point out some contributing factors, I would list the ignorance of racism at the top of my list closely followed by unemployment, poverty and poor education. I also believe the strain of population density plays a role in inner city violence. In addition, the passing of respected leaders Malcolm X and Dr. King further ripped the fabric of the black revolutionary movement. The overall layering of these hardships created an atmosphere prone to volatility. People can only take so much abuse before the instinct of self-preservation kicks in. From the material I have been presented with, I have ascertained that gangs emerged as a natural response to the threats imposed the environment of inner city Los Angeles.

In addressing the issue of the period in which these events unfolded, I can only say that in retrospect it all seems much clearer than it probably did at the time. If we look further back in history, these events were preceded by the era of slavery. Modern society has evolved from some very dark and dismal days that were incredibly unenlightened by today’s standards. The wounds imparted on American black culture are deep and scarring and the repercussions continue to influence societal patterns today. It is no wonder that these wounds are taking so long to heal.

Laugh, Snort, Giggle, This Shit's Funny!!!

2008-09-30T16:41:00.001-05:00

I have a funny challenge for all my loyal readers!!! Here's whatcha do: Google your first name and the word 'needs' and see what comes up. Cut and paste the best phrases on your blog for all of us to see. Here's mine:

Angela needs:

an agent to become an actress.

to keep her products organized.

a family who will access and work with a therapist.

to feel assurance.

to learn how to balance college and work.

help and John is the only one who can give it to her.

a placement willing to work woth her aggressive behavior.

a man to make her happy.

more action.

a new smile.

financial support for her studies.

more bite to play alongside the big boys.

to collaborate regularly with others

to learn how to train people properly.

her coffee.

to find a simple way to change a tire.

a Twitter account.

a night of blinding sex.

to be revived.

understanding, patience and consistency.

to relocate.

to go home NOW.

The Proximidade Award

2008-09-30T14:29:00.001-05:00

I have received a very special award from Cindy who recognizes the friendships achieved through blogging. I met her through Blogger and I'm glad to call her my friend although we have not yet met face to face.

I would like to pass this award along to my good friend Kristen. I dragged her into blogging some time ago, and since then she has recruited many other friends to Blogger. For this reason I bestow her with the following award:

To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means:

"This blog invests and believes, the proximity" (meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy)

"They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate? Then let's try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.

Overheard at Lunch

2008-09-17T15:27:00.000-05:00

"I'm not gonna get like, drunk drunk. I'm just gonna get like, sloshy. You know?"

Rudolf Bennitt Ride

2008-09-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

Rachael invited me to go trail riding at Rudolf Bennitt Conservation Area Trails last Sunday. Saturday night, Hurricane Ike blew through and cause 3-5 inches of rain to fall sideways on the area. We really thought it was going to rain but we were determined to ride rain or shine! Luckily it stayed dry and we had a nice ride.

Her family has a nice acreage just outside Columbia and it is absolutely beautiful there. It's just a little remote, but there seem to be other little farms close enough that it's not totally isolated.

They have chickens there.

She let me ride her mother's horse, Pete. Sadly, her mom passed away in January so it's an honor to ride her horse. His alignment is off and he tends to drift towards the right so I worked on keeping him more centered on the trail. The right leg of my breeches is filthy from all the trees he bumped me in to. My theory is that the gravel on the trail was hurting his hooves and he just wanted to walk on the soft sides of the trail.

Here's Rachael and her horse, Big Shot. I think he's about 4-5 years old. She loves this horse so much that she researched his pedigree all the way back to his foundation sire and made a little scrapbook for him.

We are considering going riding again this upcoming weekend, but we are both sore as hell from Sunday, so we'll just have to wait and see...

Going Back to School as a Non-Traditional Student

2008-09-05T15:42:00.001-05:00

I wrote the following for my best friend Dan. He texted me one morning at 7am to ask me what step he needed to follow in order to go back to school. Well, that's a question I couldn't answer with just a text message, so I composed this handy little checklist:

1. Go to Upromise.com and sign up.
Upromise gives you points/money that goes as credit toward your college loan. Merge your credit/debit cards with Upromise so that each time you use your card at a participating retailer, a percentage of your purchase is put into an account for you. You may designate up to 20 beneficiaries and assign a percentage that determines how much goes into their account. Just list yourself to start and try to get other people to sign up and list you as their beneficiary.
Go to HyVee customer service desk and request a Upromise card. Merge it with your Upromise account. Many products are eligible including Tylenol and C&H sugar. This card tracks the grocery items that contribute to Upromise. Swipe this card each time you buy groceries at HyVee. You get 3 cards so make sure to give the other two to people that will use it on your behalf. Note that if you are paying with a debit/credit card you must run it through as a credit.
If you already have a student loan out you can merge it with your Upromise account and it will help you pay down the balance.

2. Choose your major-

3. Choose your educational institution-
Note- if you want to attend a major university, find out the requirements for your major and take all General Studies courses at an accredited community college first. It must be accredited for credits to transfer to a university. In addition, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to find out how many transfer credits the university will accept.

4. Fill out your school’s application. Find out what their federal id# is and make note of it

5. Have a copy of your transcripts sent to your chosen institution(s).
Have a copy sent to yourself as well. Also, request your high school transcripts as some classes may apply as college credit. Keep these in a 3-ring binder along with all the other school related paperwork you will be accumulating as you progress.

6. Go to http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ and fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
The best time to fill out the FAFSA is in January as soon as you have your taxes done. You can apply throughout the year but there may not be as much money available. This will tell you what grants and loans you may be eligible for including the Pell Grant, SEOG, Perkins Loan, and the Ford Direct Loan (Stafford Loan). Print and save the confirmation.
If you would like to begin school in January, you should do your FAFSA now because the spring and summer semesters are still considered a part of the 2008-2009 school year. BE AWARE that you can amend your FAFSA later if your circumstances change. In addition, the school can provide you with a “Special Circumstances” form that may grant you more money if your income drastically changes as mine did when I started back to school.
The money is awarded based on your previous year’s earnings, which is why if your earnings drop substantially you may receive an increase in your financial aid award. Ask an advisor if you will be considered a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior because this affects how much money you can be awarded. Although at community colleges I believe you can only be a freshman or sophomore.
The FAFSA will also ask if you would like work-study. Only students who are eligible for a Pell Grant are eligible for work-study. This only pays minimum wage so if you think you can make more than that working outside the school system then do so.
You must do a renewal FAFSA each January.

7. Apply for scholarships.
Most scholarship applications are due by the end of January, although some may be extended up until the end of March, April or May. It just depends. The school usually has one big scholarship form that applies to all the scholarships offered through the school. However, you should also be aware that many other scholarships are available online. I also recommend a visit to the library to check out books listing scholarships and ways to fill them out so that you are a more likely candidate.
Make a special effort to research if there are special scholarships or grants available to you based on things like your field of study, your age, gender, circumstances you may have overcome, parent’s employers, GPA, etc.
If you receive any scholarships, send a thank you card to the sponsor.
Find out if there are any stipulations connected to the scholarship such as maintaining a certain GPA.

8. After your FAFSA has been processed, review your SAR (Student Aid Report) online.
If you are accepting the loans offered to you, you will be required to do two things.
#1. Go through the loan counseling on the internet. This is where you read a bunch of info about the loans and then take a quiz to make sure you understand the terms of your loan. There is separate loan counseling for the Direct (Stafford) loan and the Perkins loan, so if you receive both you must complete both their counseling sessions.
#2. Electronically sign your loan (MPN, Master Promissory Note). You must get a pin # to electronically sign your loan agreement. You will be directed to a different website to apply for a pin. I remember it was a real pain in the ass. But once you get this pin remember it!!! Keep it and have it tattooed on your hand because you will need it over and over again.

9. Register for classes online, over the phone, or in person.
First, you should confer with an advisor who can tell you what courses you actually need to complete your degree. Write this down. Plan it out according to how many semesters you think you will need to take. Usually 4 or 5 classes per semester is full time, ask your advisor though. Also, ask your advisor if there are any classes that are only offered in a particular semester.
It pays to sit down with the course guide and think this through carefully. Do you want to take classes on Days? Nights? Every day of the week or just Tuesdays and Thursdays? Or Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?
Make a chart with each hour of the day along the side (7am-7pm) and each day of the week across the top. This grid allows you to “see” what your week will be like at a glance. Fill it in with your class schedule and your work schedule, allow time for homework, and then evaluate whether or not it is feasible for you.

10. Apply for Food Stamps.
If you are a college student and work 20 hours per week or do work-study the odds are good that you are eligible to receive food stamps. You can apply at your county’s Department of Human Services office or call 1-877-937-3663 to ask where you can apply. If you are not immediately eligible, try again after 6 weeks.

11. Find out when your financial aid will be applied to your student account.
When your financial aid goes through, go and get your student id. If your school offers a meal plan, you might want to sign up for it, especially if you are going to be on campus all day.
You may also purchase your books and supplies through the campus bookstore with your financial aid and your student id.

12. Find out when financial aid refund checks will be mailed.
This is the mother lode of college life. You receive a check for any of the current semester’s financial aid that you have not already spent on books, meals and tuition. Use this money wisely. It is a wonderful thing.

13. Go to class. Do your homework. Study hard. Contribute to the class. Be the teacher’s pet. Make friends. Keep a positive attitude. Be determined. Persevere. Call me if you have any questions.

She's an artist, she don't look back

2008-09-04T19:21:00.001-05:00

For work-study, I am the building monitor in the art building. It's a 3 story building full of art studios and classrooms. I patrol the halls making sure no one is stealing supplies or causing trouble. The building is mostly empty. Occasionally someone will come in to work on a project, but for the most part I'm on my own.

Here's where I hang out most of the time...

I can do homework and read if I want. I checked out a laptop from the library tonight so I can blog. I also brought a movie to watch if I get bored. But for now, I need to walk the halls. Be right back... Wait! You want to come along!?

There's the lobby...

Here's the jewelry studio...

Here is the sculpture room...

Here's the pottery studio...

This is some sort of recording studio...

Here's a few works in progress...

There's a big totem pole by the bathrooms...

It's female...

There's the last kid who had my job...

Yep. It's all good.

When I first got this gig I thought I was going to be all Sex in the City and work in the gallery and wear my hair all curly and put in dangly earrings and wear Manolo Blahnik shoes. But, there's nobody here but me. I'm wondering if maybe I could just wear my pj's. I bet I could! I mean who's gonna say something??? Skeleton man? Nah, he likes me. Totem pole lady? Like she's got room to talk!

This one's for you CDB!

2008-09-03T19:41:00.001-05:00

Cindy set up a challenge for folks to expose their bedside table in all it's glory. Here's mine. A pretty lamp, the mandatory alarm clock, box of tissues and my glasses. No smutty books or jewelry, just the bare basics. Now I want to see yours!

My To Do list actually has nothing to do with this table. It consists of unpacking tons of boxes; changing my address at all the places I do business with; finding a job that doesn't make me want to blow my brains out; doing various homework; going to the library and making important phone calls.

Here is the challenge:

1. WITHOUT CLEANING UP, take a picture of the floor on your side of the bed or post a picture of the nightstand on your side of the bed. Wherever you collect things. Then, post it. Come on, don't even try to pretend I am alone on this one. Let's see it!

2. Tell us about the To Do List that is associated with it.

3. Come back here (Cindy's place) and let us know that you have played along.

4. Do all this by Saturday, September 6th at 10PM. Central Time, y'all! The winner will be announced on Sunday.

This is a state with a kick!

2008-09-03T17:49:00.001-05:00

So, I just want to say that Missouri really agrees with me.

There are a few things that I noticed right away when I moved. First, bluegrass music is EVERYWHERE!!! It's on the evening news; it's on the news at noon; its on the radio all night long and the library is full of juicy bluegrass CDs and DVDs! I am in hog heaven for real! I just love bluegrass, man! Give me a giutar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, and a stand-up bass and I am ridiculously happy. I'd rank it right up there with chocolate, sex and Mountain Dew.

There are more awesome butterflies here than in Iowa. I've seen more swallowtails here in a week than I saw in Iowa in a whole year. Maybe its the climate or the vegetation or maybe it's the bluegrass that draws them. I don't know but whatever it is I'm pretty damn happy about it.

Also, there are Lake Superior Agates right here on campus! That means I can squeeze in a lil bit of rock huntin into each and every day! The gravel they used in the landscaping must have come from Minnesota cuz I've found lots of agates in the aggregate. Yay!

The amenities on my apartment are pretty stellar. I have central air! I think that may be in part why I'm sleeping so much better. I like it kinda cold at night. Plus, I have a dishwasher although I haven't been able to use it yet because I'm too poor to buy the suds.

And there's a pool! Hallelujah! I love to swim! it's a really nice building and it's only 5 years old. The cabinets are nice oak and I have a huge deck and a laundry room. I'd like to buy one of those little washer dryer combos where the washer is on the bottom and the dryer is on the top. I need to find a cheap one though because I can't afford to go and spend a thousand bucks on something like that.

Oh and guess what else!? Missouri has a big fondness for mules! As a matter of fact, the mule is the official state animal of Missouri. How 'bout that!

"Missouri has the reflexes of its own celebrated mules; this is a state with a kick."-- John Gunther

I got to mooo-ove, I really had to moo-oove

2008-09-03T14:08:00.001-05:00

Hey guess what? I moved! I am an official mail receiving, college-going, job-seeking, work-studying, food-stamp receiving registered voter of the great state of Missouruh! This move was probably one of the most stressful things I have ever done in my life. I wasn't sleeping or eating or functioning in any capacity worth a damn and I am so glad it's over!

I had lots of help to move. My family came from Jefferson, IA with a huge moving truck. It's a good thing we have that sucker too because all my junk filled it up! My brother Karl couldn't come though because he was competing in a weightlifting competition at the state fair. (He won 1st place in 2 divisions by the way!) A big group of my friends had agreed to not only load the truck in Cedar Rapids, but they were also coming to Fulton and help me move in. Unfortunately, even the best laid plans often go awry, and one by one they all dropped out.

At 10pm on the eve of moving day, I was fucked sideways with an ostrich feather. But then, Megan (my former riding instructor) came to the rescue! She arranged for 2 of my former classmates to help load the truck in Cedar Rapids and she volunteered to clean my apartment after we were done. Then, she asked her friend Rachael if she would help me when I arrived in Fulton. Rachael is one of her former classmates from the Woods and she now lives about half an hour away in Columbia, MO. Also my good friend Shari and her fiance Jeff helped in many ways. Shari kept my spirits up all week and helped me pack and really provided a lot of support through it all. I am amazed and truly blessed to have all these wonderful people on my team!

I was miserable during the drive to Fulton. I didn't sleep at all the night before and I was having a terrible anxiety attack. I couldn't breathe and my heart was racing. My throat was swollen and dry and I felt like I couldn't swallow. I shared some snacks with my brother Kevin and they just made me sick to my stomach.

When we finally got to Fulton, we wrangled two neighbor boys into helping unload the truck. Seth was 16 and the Tanner was 23 and they were animals! They hauled box after overburdened box of rocks, craft supplies, fabric, clothes, dishes and other assorted crap up two flights of stairs. I paid them each 20 bucks and they were worth every penny! It was the best 40 dollars I ever spent. Thank God for neighbor boys! (TGNB) Rachael stayed all evening and helped unpack my dishes and books. We hit it off immediately and I believe this all happened so that we could meet and become friends.

Later, we all went out for dinner at the Post Office. This quaint little restaurant/bar is actually in the old post office and all the mailboxes are still in place. The family loved it and I was especially happy because this was the first meal I had in at least 24 hours.

That night I hooked up the TV and stereo equipment and started a movie for the family before I snuck off to take a shower. My parents took the bed and I slept on the sofa and my brother set up his sleeping bag in the second bedroom and we were all tucked in by 10pm. But guess what? I was wide awake by midnight and I felt like it was morning and time to get up so I unpacked boxes until 3am.

Mom was stirring in the kitchen at 7am. She fixed a pot of coffee and one by one the rest of us were drawn by the aroma. By 9am my family hit the road and I was left alone in my new world...

P.S. I'm finally able to sleep!

Laughin in the Dark

2008-08-12T23:20:00.000-05:00

So I'm completely nocturnal these days. At first I was concerned because I was only sleeping 3 hours at a time, but then I remembered that every summer my circadian rhythms switch gears and I become a night owl. So this isn't really all that unusual for me.

I'm stressed out about moving this weekend and it's basically all I think about. When I close my eyes I imagine how I'm gong to arrange my furniture. I think about where I'm going to work and whether or not I should do work study.

It just so happens that my good friend, Shari is nocturnal as well. Last night we drove out to St. Marks Cathedral to watch the Perseid meter shower. Sometimes it pays to say up late!

Beach Glass

2008-08-01T22:54:00.000-05:00

This is the most recent quilt top that I completed. There are two alternating blocks; "Ocean Waves" and "Storm at Sea". It consisted of thousands of itsy bitsy triangles so it was a huge pain in the ass to work on, but I powered through it, staying up overnight on several occasions to get 'er done. This quilt is huge too- I have a queen sized bed and it covers the entire top and drapes down both of the sides!

Shocking!

2008-07-25T15:49:00.000-05:00

This is the tornado that hit the Boy Scout camp in western Iowa. This monster killed 4 people and injured 48 others.

This is the Simon Estes Ampitheater in Des Moines. It's a big bowl shaped depression with the stage right under the arch. I've been to many concerts here with my friends including Government Mule, Ziggy Marley, Lucinda Williams and many others, so it's sad to see it underwater like this.

when it should look like this:

These are the scary shoes that people in the 100 year floodplain wear:

These are the shoes that cool people wear:

If I lived on a spaceship I would wear these:

Needless to say they are NOT the shoes that I wear... Too pointy:

But I do kinda like these:

But I don't think my feet would appreciate this:

Look at this lady's shoes:

She's showing you her toes:

Shocking!

Why Women Live Longer Than Men

2008-07-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

VayCay with the FamDamily

2008-06-21T17:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm off to Nebraska for vacation with the family. Not just my individual family group, but all the extended relations on my stepdad's side of the family. We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of his parents and they have reserved a bunch of cabins at Mahoney State Park.

I'm pretty jazzed about it because I'll get to spend time with my brothers. I don't get to see them nearly often enough and I feel like I'm too far removed from them. I'm hoping we can all go trail riding together. Wouldn't that be great!?

So 4 or 5 days of barbeque and quality time with my closest relatives sounds sweet, huh? I'll let you know.

Wake of the Flood

2008-06-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

My city is ruined and it keeps on raining.

This morning as I drove the few blocks from O Avenue to Edgewood Drive, a contingent of 10 orange dump trucks turned onto O Ave on their way to the Time Check neighborhood to clean up flood debris. Debris might be the wrong word here because what they were really going to pick up was the belongings of hundreds of people whose homes were completely submerged by the Cedar River.

It's not the river's fault. It's not God's fault. It's not even Mother Nature's fault. It's man's fault. The city is built in the flood plain comparable to how New Orleans is built on the delta. The area is vulnerable and predilected to high water levels. The difference this time is that the urbanization has increased the impact exponentially.

The development of the area has placed buildings where there were none and those buildings have displaced a massive amount of water. All this concrete created impermeable surface that increased the likelihood of flash flooding from runoff and prevented the underlying soils from absorbing the water. We've narrowed the channel and dammed the river and then built levees to make damn sure the water stays right where we want it.

But it didn't work this time.

It's horribly sad. Although my neighborhood is on a hill and did not flood at all, I am affected none-the-less. I was cut off from work for about a week because my job is on the other side of the swollen river. This is my way to work:

All the bridges were submerged and the only route to get over the river was I380. Traffic was backed up for 2-3 hours through the city.

Cedar Rapids residents were also cut off from Iowa City as well. The detour was 280 miles for a trip that is normally 25-30 miles. Here's the detour from hell:

Although I haven't lived here very long, this city is in my blood. I've experienced some really positive life changes here and I've been accepted and received with open arms. This place feels like home.

I haven't admitted this to to many people but I kinda wanna stay here. I love this place and I have a good life here. I've never felt upset about moving or leaving a place before. I've always felt like I'm ready and it's time to move on. But I feel a loss when I think about moving away from here.

The library is totally ruined. I was there the day before and they weren't doing any thing. not sandbagging, not moving books, nothing. They had no idea this was going to happen!

Here's the new 1000 Year Flood Map based on this year's flood:

The Paramount Theater is ruined and their Wurlitzer pipe organ is destroyed.

The historic Sutliff bridge is ruined. People used to go there to fish and picnic on the bridge:

These are boathouses smashed against a railroad bridge downtown:

The Saddle and Leather Shop is ruined, actually the whole Czech Village is ruined. Here's a view:

Yesterday, on my way to work, I glanced to my right and looked down one of the neighborhood streets. The street was lined with piles of garbage, once treasured belongings were now reduced to mold and rot and stink and I bawled the rest of the way to work.

Babies!

2008-06-19T13:31:00.000-05:00

We have two foals at the school! The first is Tater, Sammy's colt. Otis had Sammy bred to a (supposedly homozygous) paint stallion. The colt is sorrel with an ostrich on his face. Or is it a turkey???

Ain't he cute!? He's about a month old and growing like a weed. He's sweet and friendly and you can pet and rub and love on him just as much as you please 'cuz he likes it! You can tell by the way he streches out his neck and licks his lips furiously.

The second is Feather, Babe's colt. We have been impatiently awaiting his arrival for quite a while. Poor Babe was as big as a house! He was just born last night under a full moon.

The school bought Babe at auction last fall but they didn't know she was preggers until January. This colt is adorable, but we can't love on him just yet 'cuz Babe says "No way!" I am thrilled that he's a paint, but then I'm just a little bit biased.

Sometimes people are an ass to me...

2008-05-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

I wanted to buy some artist quality watercolors so I went to the small, locally owned art shop downtown to make my purchase. The owner was busy with another customer so I bided my time perusing the store (and eavesdropping).

The owner was selling this woman an easel for her home. I gathered that they knew each other outside of the customer/retailer environment because he was telling her how he believes we are in a recession because his first quarter sales figures are down 50% from what they were last year at this time. And she was telling him about her husband having a girlfriend and how they were getting a divorce and she was moving on and he was a taker not a giver anyway, so it's probably for the best, plus he's an alcoholic who only goes to meetings when he needs something but he doesn't give anything back to the group blah, blah, blah.

I'm a patient person but there were no prices on anything and I'm not exactly made out of money, so I was wanting them to hurry up and finish so I could pick out my paint! Finally, he said he would carry the easel out to her car for her and out the door they went. He was gone for a long time. His teenage son was running the shop in his absence and he didn't really know the business that well.

A big old construction worker cam in and said, "I called a little bit ago to see if you have some drafting paper." The son told him, "Yeah, I'm 90% sure we have it but I don't know where it is." he continued, "My dad's just outside doing a carry-out and he should be back in just a minute and he can help you out."

Dad was gone a long-ass time. Like 15-20 minutes. I figured he was probably trying to work his way into this divorcee's pants and that's fine and everything, but he's got customers in his shop goddammit!

So, the construction worker finally says, "I'll just get it at Menard's, I know they have it." and he left.

But I'm still waiting.

When Dad comes back in, he immediately checks his answering machine and returns a phone call. He never once asked me if he could help me to find anything. Hell, he didn't even greet me when I first walked in the store! So I left. I don't like being ignored. I had money to spend. I wanted to support his shop but he wouldn't help me! So, if his store goes under and he goes out of business he deserves it because he gives shitty customer service.

The good news is that I found a set of 60 Windsor Newton watercolors on Ebay. I placed a bid and won them for $90. The actual value is $550-$600 so I got a sweet deal. Hurray for me!!

Sometimes I'm an ass...

2008-05-20T21:13:00.000-05:00

I wanted to volunteer to rehabilitate birds of prey. I placed a call to the director and when she called me back, I agreed to help with their annual spring clean-up the very next day. Later, I decided that I was a bit too eager and that I shouldn't go to the clean-up because I had to work at 1pm and I would only be able to spend about 2 hours at the center. I left a message on her machine to let her know I wasn't going to participate.

She called me back a few days later when I was out with my friend Shari and her realtor. We were in the kitchen of her new house talking when suddenly, my phone rang abnormally loud and in an unfamiliar ring tone. he called ID said "Unavailable" so I assumed that it was a bill collector so I answered with a bitchy "Who is this?" the caller said "May I speak with Angela Dudley?" and again MegaUltraBitch said, "Yeah. Who is this?" she replied, "This is JDK from the Raptor Project." Fuck.

I was completely horrified so I hung up fast. I screwed up. Damn it! I wanted to volunteer really bad and I grossly mishandled the opportunity. I thought about just saying it was a bad connection or that my battery died but I didn't want to lie. Then I thought about just telling the truth- that I was surprised by the call and the circumstances at the time but the hanging up part is a little hard to explain.

I was tormented about it for at least 3-4 days. Then I decided that it is going to be a busy summer with work and school and I probably won't have much extra time to contribute anyway, so I let it go.

But I still feel bad.

Bootsy

2008-04-29T15:56:00.000-05:00

I'm calling this one "These Boots are made for Blockin", get it? Cute, I know. It was quick and easy. I needed a break from some of the more complicated designs I've done lately.

This was my first flannel quilt, just to see how I like working with it. I guess I didn't mind it so much, but I think I still prefer calico. There's just a lot more options to choose from.

Water's Risin'

2008-04-29T13:39:00.001-05:00

After an excellent winter with 58 mighty inches of snowfall, we are hip deep in a wet and soggy spring! Our geology class went on a field trip to Palisades-Kepler park in the rain. There is a low head dam on the Cedar River, but it is broken right there. It's a good thing too because the Cedar Valley has loads of recreational boaters. I learned that low head dams are death machines. People get caught in the recirculating current and get pinned by the hydraulics.

The river was reaching it's flood stage and was well out of its banks. In fact, a portion of the road through the park was closed. I don't know if you can tell from this photo but these steep-ass stairs end in the river. They're not supposed to though, usually there's a huge honkin sand bar down there. Fortunately, my classmates and I found a small alcove in which we sought shelter from the continual rains.

We had to draws maps of the area and do experiments to determine how many feet per second the river was moving. It was kind of a bitch that it was raining because our paper got all wet.

Fire

2008-04-29T12:11:00.000-05:00

We are heading full speed into finals week! YAY! This semester has been a challenge. The teachers have been laying on the homework like there's no tomorrow! Dixie got a sore on her leg a few weeks ago and so I've been trying out a few other horses. Also Dixie was having issues taking the right lead on her canter depart.

I rode a paint named Angie for a while but her bridle was too big for her and they didn't have another one to use so it made her steer like crap. When I tried to get her to do a turn on the haunches she just stepped out with her inside leg and didn't crossover like she's supposed to. On one occasion she frustrated me by not letting me catch her. She ran full speed out to the pasture and then back up into the dry lot again and I couldn't even get close. The bitch. The dry lot was about a foot deep in mud and I could barely walk in it. I asked other students for help and eventually there were 5 people out there. Finally, I called the barn and asked Brandy to come out and help. Her horse is notorious for being hard to catch so I figured if anyone could do it, she could. And guess what- She walked right up to Angie. Angie looked over at the rest of us, took one tiny step, and then stood there quietly while Brandy haltered her! Of course, she was all lathered up and I was late to class and it took and hour and fifteen minutes to catch her, but at least we got her caught!

Then I rode a big white draft mare named Cotton on Cara's recommendation. Cotton was like riding a jackhammer. She has big, jolting, jarring strides. This is a western class and it was nearly impossible to sit her trot. So I would post until I got her pace where I wanted it, and then sit for a few strides and then back to posting again.

Then I was going to ride Bailey with a rhythm collector and see if I could get her to quit pokin her nose out and come into form. I brought her in and got her all cleaned up, only to find she threw a shoe and couldn't be ridden. I went to get Bubba, but he was way down in the pasture and I was already going to be late, so I asked if I could ride Reco instead (for old times sake). Nellie said ok, so I brought him in and then I was told that Chris was coming in to ride Reco.

I was a bit frustrated until Nellie told me I could ride Fire. Fire is a geriatric Arabian mare show horse. She's so smooth it's like riding on a cloud. She flexes at the poll and is very responsive to even the lightest touch. I love riding her but I do feel kinda sorry for the old girl though... she gets saddle sores really easy and she's kinda out of shape and she has to haul my fat ass all over the place- and believe me I ride the hell out of her! She's always super sweaty when I'm finished, but I clean her up well before I put her away. Today, I think I'm going to do lateral work with her and less cantering because it took an hour to dry her off last week. (Just thinking out loud, er, writing out loud).

Smella

2008-04-08T13:38:00.000-05:00

I realize I never wrote any posts about Ella. It’s not that I didn’t want to… it was just a matter of prioritizing my time. I had a pretty hectic schedule for a while. Ella was a fast learner. She picked up on long lining and driving in a snap, however, the same cannot be said for riding.

Ella is my riding instructor, Megan’s horse. She’s half Thoroughbred, half Appaloosa and cute as a button. Last year, Kandy had Ella as a project horse at the same time I was working with Dixie. I recall Kandy practiced Pat Parelli’s 7 Games and took her through Jeff Griffith’s clinic. Kandy worked Ella on the lunge line and started her long line training, but since Ella was a green two year old, I don’t think she got far beyond the basic schooling. I also remember that Ella gave Kandy a problem with refusing to walk through the pasture gate. She braced her forelegs and stubbornly balked until Megan introduced her to the whip.

When Dixie’s training was complete, Megan asked if I would work with Ella and train her to pull a cart. Megan and I both agreed that it would be the next logical step. I was ready for bit more of a challenge and I was eager to get started. Although Ella and Dixie grew up together and are best friends, they are completely different in terms of temperament.

She has a short coat, even in the winter it didn’t grow very long. Ella must have a fairly high metabolism because she’s pretty lean and doesn’t put on weight very easily. She gets 6 pounds of grain a day (3#am & 3#pm) and consequently she has LOTS of energy to burn. More than once I walked by and saw her bucking in her stall. It was always tricky and somewhat dangerous to turn her out because she has so much pent up energy just waiting to be set loose! She likes to rear a lot and that taught me quite a bit about positioning, focus and control.

The first week I spent introducing myself to Ella by playing the 7 Games and doing a small amount of work on the lunge line. My first impressions were that Ella was unbalanced and kind of a brat. When we played the Circle game at canter, she dropped her shoulder and went around all slanted and crooked. It’s impossible to get good, balanced, cadenced movement like that, so one of my first goals was to improve her balance and rhythm at all three gaits.

Ella challenged my authority as leader by facing me when she should have been circling, and attempting to change directions. I quickly realized that circling her on a lead rope was potentially dangerous to my health, so I switched to a lunge line early on and was better able to direct her with the whip.

Once she was circling obediently, I introduced ground poles positioned at 12,3,6,& 9 o’clock. When she approached the first time she attempted to evade the obstacle by cutting inside the circle. I forced her back out and she jumped over them the first few time until she settled in.

When that was mastered, I set up trotting poles at a distance of 4 feet apart. This part of her training was my personal favorite. It was exhilarating to see her rhythm improve and know that I helped her to do that. Ella dropped her head and rounded her back and came into such a nice form over the poles! She was truly beautiful! I was so impressed and quite proud of her.

On most days, after Ella was finished with her gymnastic lesson, I long lined her. She took to it very well and only caused me serious trouble on a few occasions. She would turn to face me and cause a tangle the lines and it was a big pain in the ass to straighten them out. This was due in part to my own mistakes in positioning and not driving her forward with enough energy. I bought a nice driving whip to encourage her forward. ‘Forward’ is important for a driving horse because they can get you and the buggy in a real predicament if they turn sideways in the harness.

Ella was being ridden every morning in Megan’s Horsemanship class. by first year students. She didn’t have too many rides on her to begin with, and I saw her throw 3 people. Needless to say I didn’t want to ride her at all but since the exercise was good for her, I let them use her.

One day, after Ella was all pooped out, I enlisted Robby to help me put Ella in drag poles. She was perfect; didn’t flinch, didn’t spook, didn’t do anything but accept them. With Megan’s help we decided to try her in the pony cart while she was too tired to make a fuss. Again she was wonderful. We drove around the arena two or three times in both directions and then unhitched her. It was amazing.

I have to admit I was surprised that Ella took to driving so readily. She’s so high strung that I figured she would resist it more. Even calm, docile Dixie tensed up and bucked when she was first hitched up in the breaking cart. With Ella we skipped the breaking cart completely and went straight into the pony cart. She accepted it without batting an eye.

Ella was a fun and challenging horse to work with and she made me proud. I never rode her, but that's alright, I never wanted to anyway. I believe Megan decided to sell Ella at a recent sale, but I don't really know for sure. Another student told me that and until I hear it from her, it's just hearsay.

Scrappy Plaids

2008-04-07T13:53:00.000-05:00

This is one of the most recent quilts I made. Two women gave me their scrap bags and when combined with my own, I think I have about 20 pounds of scrap fabric! I selected all the homespun plaids and carefully cut the peices for this design. The pattern originally called for just plain white muslin, but I decided to use white-on-white and off white calico prints instead. I really love this quilt a lot. It was fun to make and amazing to see what a pretty quilt can be made from scraps!

Photo Op

2008-03-31T14:43:00.000-05:00

These are my classmates from left to right: Bottom Row, Kristina V., Caitlin, Becky, Kayla, Mallory; Second Row, Megan O., Lindsay, Me, Christina J.; Third Row, Brandi, Jamie, Cara, Ashley, Amy and Gabby; Fourth Row, John, Heather, Sheryl and Tyler. Not everyone was there for the photo. I guess they didn't get the memo.

We had our graduation dinner at midterm because many of the students were leaving to go on their interships. My family came to the dinner with me and it was great to have their support. I'm not going to participate in the official commencement in May because it involves the entire campus and is just too costly.

Everyone recieved a little award with a lovely parting gift. I was bestowed with "The Look" award because I give people the evil eye for talking during class. That's alright. They deserve it.

As it turns out, I don't have to do an intership because I transferred in 6 intership credits. Although I applied for a summer job at Grant's Farm I haven't heard back from them. When I visited William Woods I learned that Grant's Farm hires many of their graduates, so I guess maybe my opportunity will come later.

Ketchup

2008-03-25T14:35:00.000-05:00

Today is a day of catching up! I feel I owe you guys an explanation for my extended absence so, let me start by saying that I bought a home computer! That's big news, exciting news for me because now I can write papers and do homework at home. Yippee! Of course, that means a lot less time at the computer lab on campus and therefore a lot less opportunity to blog. Unfortunately, because I am a poor college student, I do not have internet access. I can read everyone's blogs from my cell phone but I am unable to leave comments. But, never fear, dear readers, I am keeping up and I am thinking of you.

I'm riding Dixie twice a week in my Advanced Western class. I've ridden lots of different horses but I have a bond with her and I feel more fulfilled when I work with her. She's special.

As far as the tests mentioned in the previous post, I got A's on all 3. Good for me, huh? I was also accepted by Phi Theta Kappa which is an honor society for students at 2 year institutions who maintain a high GPA. The really awesome news is that they are giving me a $6000 scholarship for William Woods University.

I've been picking up extra hours at work. One of my collegues was diagnosed with some sort of butt cancer and her doctors recommended that she take a leave of absence while she undergoes chemotherapy and radiation. She can't be exposed to the general public's cootie-bugs while her immune system is down.

Aiko is getting spayed this week. Sweet kitty. I am recieving aid from an organization called Animeals. They provide a bag of cat food every month and they offered to have her spayed for free. My only required contribution is $5 towards her rabies shot.

Now, words for my blog buddies:

Cindy- Good luck with The Thing! It's very exciting and yay for you!

KB- You're due for a new post. Better get crack-a-lackin

Kristen- Hurry up and post those sweet cave pictures you promised me! I can't wait to see them.

Kelly- Luv Luv Luv the new car, I may be a tish jealous of the bad assedness of your sweet ride.

Heidi- I have a good feeling about the medication therapy. I really think it's going to work, hang it there!

Erin- Ironic that your friend got cancer at about the same time as my friend. Glad you're getting on well at your job.

I've got more goodies in store so stay tuned...

Test, Test, Test, Ride!

2008-03-04T15:47:00.000-06:00

I'm taking three tests today; Native American History, Composition 2, and Nutrition. Two down one to go! Then I'm going to go ride Dixie, YAY!!!

Fortune Cookie Words of Wisdom

2008-02-26T13:45:00.002-06:00

I cleaned out my junk drawer and found my lifelong collection of Chinese fortunes In an effort to clear out the clutter, I typed them all up into a paperless form. So here they are, in no particular order.

Life is art. Your every thought and action is your unique creation.

Enjoy what you have; hope for what you lack.

You are more likely to give than give in.

Every truly great accomplishment is at first impossible.

You will be singled out for promotion.

He who has good health is young.

Avert misunderstanding by calm, poise and balance.

Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought.

A well-directed imagination is the source of great deeds.

Get your mind set… Confidence will lead you on.

Versatility is one of your outstanding traits.

You never hesitate to tackle the most difficult problems.

Receiving is just as important as giving.

There is a prospect of a thrilling time ahead for you.

Your message must focus on the receiver. Ignore yourself.

You will have traveling opportunities.

You have a natural grace and consideration for others.

You should be able to undertake and complete anything.

Good news is on its way.

Flattery will go far tonight.

It’s a god time to finish up old tasks.

Fame creates something out of nothing.

You have an active mind and a keen imagination.

You will have gold pieces by the bushel.

Watch your relations with other people carefully. Be reserved.

Your emotional nature is strong and sensitive.

Executive ability is prominent is your make-up.

You have ability to sense and know the truth.

You have at your command the wisdom of ages.

None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

Laws die, books never.

You will enjoy true success in whatever you do.

An unexpected event soon will bring you happiness.

Advice given to you will be well worth following.

You will soon be crossing great waters.

Disasters can become blessings. Blessings can become disasters.

Beauty is in the heart of the beholder.

Haste makes waste.

A need is a really strong want.

Nature, time and patience are the three best physicians.

Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.

Your actions reveal you thoughts more than you realize.

The smart thing is to prepare for the unexpected.

Your reputation of being honest will be very rewarding.

Two wrongs don’t make a right.

You are affectionate and will have many loves.

Idleness is the holiday of fools.

A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.

Your wish to reach the top will be granted.

Consolidate rather than expand business projects in the near future.

Hearts hold truths words can only hint at.

You will enjoy good health and financial independence.

Simple pleasures are the best.

Worry is today’s mouse eating tomorrow’s cheese.

The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next.

A surprise announcement will free you.

Your luck has been completely changed today.

Be cautious while walking in darkness alone.

A thrilling time is in your immediate future.

Stop searching. Happiness is inside of you.

A courteous smile to fellow travelers brightens any day.

You will advance the careers of your friends in your climb to the top.

Your persistence and diligence is appreciated by all.

You live in an eternity. Be happy today.

A reunion with an old acquaintance is a disaster.

A tidy sum is coming your way.

You love life will be happy and harmonious.

Find release from your cares and have a good time.

Your efforts will result in much profit.

You will soon have an opportunity to make a change to your advantage.

Listen not to vain words of an empty tongue.

A friend asks only for your time not your money.

Your ability to juggle many tasks will get you far.

Someone is speaking well of you.

Your joyfulness will prolong your days.

You can’t solve problems for those people who don’t want their problem solved.

You have a friendly heart and are much admired.

You will be advance socially without any special effort on your part.

A good evening is one spent in good company.

Your success in life must be earned with earnest efforts.

You need not worry about the future.

You will travel and come into a fortune.

You have a yearning for perfection.

You deserve special treatment this month. Enjoy dessert.

Training 2 Vocabulary

2008-02-21T13:44:00.001-06:00

Time Table for schooling a horse:
Age 3-4, Training 1st level, jumping gymnastically
Age 4-5, 1st & 2nd level, and jumping 3 and cross-country
Age 5-6, 2nd & 3rd level, and jumping 4 plus one-day eventing
Age 6-7, 3rd-5th level & FEI

Bio Mechanics: the study of the functioning of muscle and bone mechanisms in the horse and rider in motion

Nervous System: the study of activating the muscles in response to the riders aids as well as the feedback from the horse to the rider

Language of Touch: the study of the communication between rider and horse by touch and training the horse to respond to aids by reflex. It begins by training the horse while he is consciously processing your requests. After schooling he will react by reflex.

Agonists: muscles that produce movement

Antagonists: muscles that oppose the agonist and by controlled relaxation allow accurate movement

Synergists: muscles that assist the prime mover

Fixators: muscles that stabilize the attachments of the other three

Flexors: bring the bones closer together on either side of a joint, they close the angle and bend the limb

Extensors: bring the bones toward alignment, they open the angle and straighten the limb

Somatic Efferent: action that originates in the brain

Somatic Afferent: action that originates from an outside source

Bow and String: the analogy that describes dorsiflexion and/or ventriflexion

Strengthening the Topline: helping the horse learn to dorsiflex his back in order to produce dorsiflexion in his neck

Long and Low: helps the horse dorsiflex by allowing the dorsal neck muscles to engage and transfer that tension to the supraspinous ligament to give stronger support to the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae

Strengthening the Bottomline: working the horse in the dorsiflexed or collected outline builds up muscular strength in all of his parts

The Nervous System:
Central Nervous System: brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System: spinal nerves
Afferent Nerves: sense outside stimulation
Efferent Nerves: motor nerves going from CNS to muscles and organs
Visceral: deals with involuntary functions (i.e. breathing, digestion, etc)
Somatic: involves muscle activities under conscious control

Exteroceptive: incoming signals (i.e. pain, taste, sound, light, touch)

Proprioceptive: signals providing information about muscle and joint movement and coordination

Running Commentary: continuous two-way flow of communication between horse and rider through the Language of touch, used to maintain what the horse is already doing

The Commands: using the Language of Touch to tell the horse to change from what he is currently doing to something else, includes transitions and changing direction

Turn on the Forehand:
Position yourself in the saddle slightly to the inside
Look to the outside
Whip in inside hand
Inside rein a bit shorter
Slightly counter flexed
Apply pressure with outside leg on hind leg button

The Link System: 6 links
1. hand and forearm
2. upper arm
3. trunk
4. thigh
5. lower leg
6. foot from heel to stirrup

Blocks and Effect: generally speaking, if using a link inappropriately, the effect will be a loss of flexibility in the next two joints

Riding Positions: the rider should vary his position to suit the purpose of his demands
Vertical Position: rider supports herself with her body’s center of gravity, used when schooling on the flat or in dressage
Forward Position: the rider supports herself mainly with the stirrups with the seat out of the saddle, mainly used in jumping or cross-country
Centered Position:
Lateral Position:

Leg Yielding: the horse, straight in body and neck, moves forward and sideways by crossing over the inside legs in front of the outside ones

The Training Tree:
Age 1-3 Taming Exercises: makes young horses accept handling by humans
Age 3 Backing Exercises: makes young horses accept the saddle on his back
Age 3-4 Basic Loosening Exercises: reduces stiffness and tension and teaches response to rider aids
Age 4-5 Collecting Exercises: further builds the horse’s muscles causing more active engagement of the hindquarters and lightening of the forehand