#98 Sad Commentary

This is the ghost of a commercial orchard; there are many, many more ghosts around our valley. We used to be a huge fruit growing county, now the orchards are disappearing. We import from Asia now. That makes as much sense as me taking a bath in a barrel of tar.
We need to watch our labels and buy locally....or at least from the closest source possible.
Jack and I purchase locally or items made on the West Coast to help cut down dependancy on oil. Items like bananas and coffee I make an allowance for.
I do reccomend a book by Barbara Kingsolver called "Animal, Mineral, Vegetable" (I think that's the title...something like it.) Good reasonings on why we should try and purchase only locally made items.
She made it a year and purchased locally for almost everything. She was fortunate in that she lived in an area in Virginia where they kept their farmers' market open year round. Ours runs about 5 months and is a 45 mile round trip to get there! The really nice market is 90 miles round trip!
Just one of life's challenges....being responsible with our resources. Seeing the lumber mills closing and the logging trucks parked in the parking lots and the orchards disappearing are just reminders for me of how fragile our system truly is.
(Okay, I'll get down from my soapbox now.)

#97 Surprise....sort of...

Okay....Amy posted her photo so I can now post mine. Amy had posted a comment on one of my blogs that we should trade an afghan for a quilt. I agreed and we e-mailed one another the colors we'd prefer and that was it. So I started to work on a lap quilt for Amy; got it done and mailed it off. She received it yesterday so I'll post my photo when I get home from work today. I can't wait to see her with the quilt.....all the way on the other side of the country! yay!
One of these days, we'll be able to meet in person which will only enhance the friendship we have formed through our blogs.

#96 - 18 Years Later

We've lived here 18 years and I still get excited when the deer come calling. I can't have flowers because of them, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to take. Deer are common in these parts. They are everywhere; if I'm not stopping for a deer to cross the road, I'm stopping for a flock of turkeys to cross! And I wait.....wearing a smile.

#95 Lone Turkey

For years, we have had this lone turkey hanging out in and around our field. ('not enough grass to call it a pasture). I was in a hurry coming home the other day when I saw her hanging out with the horses. I turned off the engine to my ole' van and watched for quite awhile; wondering why she is alone; what makes turkeys ostracise one of their own; is there something different about this turkey, etc. It has always made me sad to see this turkey all alone when there are flocks of 18-40 sharing the same turf.

Later I looked out from the kitchen and saw her again...(I think she's a hen). I need to give her a name....what do you think I should name her?

#94 Flat Stanley Visits

Flat Stanley is a flat doll who travels around the world to learn whatever he can. After each "foreign" visit, he is returned to the school from where he started his journey. Students send him as far away as they can and they share with their classmates what they have learned

after Stanley returns.

Flat Stanley has visited me twice. Yesterday, I took him to school with me. Today he is going to learn how to saddle up and ride a horse. I may just ride with him.

#93 Say Cheese

400 members in our union, working without a contract for the whole year. The US economy is in the toilet so how can we strike? For me, the decision was easy - it was all about respect. Whether one is the boss or the worker, respect has to flow both ways. Respect in my little pea brain is free. Doesn't cost a thing except in the language - how we speak to others, and how we talk on paper....as in contract language. After picketing throughout our district, we all met in a HUGE Bingo Hall.....(felt like a sports stadium it was so big!).... we overwhelmingly voted to strike. Knowing the public wouldn't understand how we could possibly be standing up when hundreds of thousands of Americans are without a job at all. Bottom line: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Something came out of that vote: One man stood up just before we voted and asked that no matter how we voted, that we remain together as a group with the common cause of being committed to the children entrusted to us; that we not be divided, that we treat one another with respect even though we may be voting the opposite of our co-workers. (It was an open vote where we had to stand up to vote.)

The bargaining team left to return to the negotiations table and guess what? Both teams worked through the entire night until they came up with an agreement.....giving and taking on both sides.. (duh).... and at 6:30 a.m. the next morning, they met in the middle.

The entire bargaining took over a year. That particular day, the teams on both sides were at it for just shy of 24 hours. Amazing how we can meet in the middle without hurting one another. Respect. I do love that.

So this old wanna-be-hippie, got to picket one afternoon and flash the peace sign and a smile at passer byers (???) and know that either way the vote went, I'd go with the outcome. I didn't want to be without the kids on a daily basis, but I had faith it would work out in the end.

(I told everyone to hide their faces because I was going to post this photo on the web...they did and I yelled "Say Cheese"!)

#92 Some Kind of Hot Flash!

Jack and I are already quite opposite in our approaches to life, but lately, the inside temp of our house has been one of those areas where we do NOT agree upon. No wonder I'm hanging over the railing OUTSIDE fanning myself!! And by the way, this is in the kitchen, not the living room where the wood burning stove and television are. He, on the other hand, has on long johns and is still "cold". I think he needs his thermometer checked....and I'm not talkin' about the one in this photo!