And it's off to the Senate

Cap and Trade aka American Clean Energy and Security Act has passed the house. You can find those that voted to pass it over here. Personally if any of my Representatives were on that list, I would write them and inform them that I would not be voting for them again.

And why wouldn't I vote them in? Because cap and trade is a farce. It wasn't created on scientific study, it was created on who has stock in what companies, and who stands to make a pretty penny. Even Greenpeace released a statement;

"Since the Waxman-Markey bill left the Energy and Commerce committee, yet another fleet of industry lobbysists has weakened the bill even more, and further widened the gap between what Waxman-Markey does and what science demands. As a result, Greenpeace opposes this bill in its current form. We are calling upon Congress to vote against this bill unless substantial measures are taken to strengthen it. Despite President Obama’s assurance that he would enact strong, science-based legislation, we are now watching him put his full support behind a bill that chooses politics over science, elevates industry interests over national interest, and shows the significant limitations of what this Congress believes is possible."

You can read the entire statement here at their website.

See Greenpeace doesn't think this bill is science based.

Some have the expense to consumers at $170 more a year. Unfortunately this doesn't take in the effect of the trickle down effect. Everything will have an added price to it, from food to tp, the estimates are more like $1800 a more per year for a family of 4. I don't have that much more to spend on everything.

This bill wants me to stop using my truck because it is a gas guzzler. I have to have a truck, no if's and or buts about it. I have to move feed and livestock. We have a car, and our motorcycle is being converted to be able to use 1 part gas 2 parts alcohol, we can't do much more than this. And I don't want to acquire more debt in that Cash for Clunker scheme.

If you feel the way I do about this, might I suggest you write to your Senators. I know they are on break, but let's welcome them back with our will.

Stunning, ain't I?

American Prepper, from The American Prepper Network, has graciously donated a prize to be given away during this years fund raiser, The Blogathon.

I know, you are all anxious for me to tell you. I might just make you wait for it. . . wait for it. . .

Until then, go check out The Daily Prepper for all your preparedness information needs.


hahaha. . . I should make you guess on this oh so hot day. I have already given you a hint.

Sharing a childhood

Kind of an odd way to have a joyful morning, my oldest son and I have VH1 on. Of course everyone knows that Micheal Jackson died last night. Large knows who he is, kind of hard not to know who the man was even if he hasn't produced an album for years. But I was changing the channel from the morning cartoons to the news, when I saw the opening to "Thriller." I stopped. "Thriller" was the first record I ever bought with my own money. I think I was 7 years old. And I would play it on my brown pitiful portable picnic player (nod to Clockwork Orange fans). I just sat there smiling, remembering playing the song, listening to Vincent Prices narration over and over (I was and still am a huge Vincent Price fan) and telling Large about it. He sat there smiling to, probably thinking what a loser his mother was. But it has been a pleasant morning with Large and I. This is rare as he gets older and more defiant towards me. But as I sit here, I could yell out the name of the song as it came on, before the words came on the screen. Another interesting moment, since MTV and VH1 don't seem to play music anymore, Large said "this song is called Micheal." I giggled, "No, the first line is the name of the artist, then the song's title,. . ." had to explain how it worked. It has been nice though, sharing my childhood with my child.

Of course my choice in music now-a-days is what Medium calls the devil's music. He's a sweet boy.

I wasn't up for talking yesterday, in case you missed me. Just some stress, and heat getting to me. 102f and still haven't turned the air conditioning on yet. It's ok until about 3pm, then the humidity starts to wear on you and you get sleepy. About 7pm however it starts cooling off and I can get back outside and get some more work done.

I am really looking forward to 4th of July. Been planning out the menu, well our part of it, my guest bring the side dishes and we supply the meat, bread and desserts. Large will turn 2 on the 7th. We are looking forward to that as well.

Today, more gardening, milking and general animal care.

Coffee's Brewin'

My back door is wide open and I am watching the sprinkler take care of the garden on this cool morning. Not sure how long this cooler temperature will be here, I would guess not very long, so I will be heading out in a few minutes.

I am back to waking up real earlier, a least working back to getting up early. It's a little late this morning, 630 am, but by next week I should be awaking consistently at 530 again. This is so I can get the chores done before the 100F hits.

I was weeding late last night, in the twilight, and it hit me. I can't fail, not this time. Not sure why or where the thought came from, because I was thinking of something completely different. But it is now there, I have a ton of work a head of me, and I don't have the luxury of failing this time. This is no longer hobby or a way to stretch the budget, this is the budget. Milking is back on track, the garden is lushes and green. So far, so good.

I meet my 15 year old niece for the first time this weekend. She lives in Colorado with her mother. A sweet girl, looks just like her mother. She rode a horse for the very first time here on the homestead. I was thrilled to finally meet her. Sad it had to take so long to do so.

Medium is riding Sammy (horse) all on his own. He is very proud of it. I am proud of him as well. He seems to carry his own very well with her, showing her who's boss and she responds nicely.

Late last night, husband and I were on the porch, the dogs wouldn't stop barking. I thought the Murrial and Courage where just snacking along the fence line. But it was husband that noticed it was miniature horses. Great! Why is it that out of all the people in this area, we always get to spot the runaways, and put them back. Of course the owners weren't home. So I just pushed the ponies into their front yard and shut the gate. I have no idea where they belonged, but I have seen these people pen donkeys in their backyard.

Coffee's ready.

A little bit of trivia

I was doing some research about the Tractorcade of 1979, and found something very interesting.

Back in the late 70's, when farmers were being foreclosed on, the local farming community would show up at the auctions and pay a penny for the foreclosed on items. Then they would turn around and give everything back to the foreclosed on farmer.

The first day of Summer 2009

The first day of summer went by without a hitch. It arrived on time and over stayed it's welcome. It wasn't until around 3pm, that I finally had to ask it to leave, it didn't take the hint. Large informed me that the air was fluffy, like you could grab hold of it. That was the humidity he was talking about.

Uma, our oldest calf, isn't being very living right now. She seems to be very uncomfortable. I watched her in the pen yesterday. She would lay down, stand up and pace. Every one else was just standing there, seemingly annoyed by her. I went to scratch her and she shook at me like she had a pair, of horns that is. She just wasn't in the mood for lovin'. I think that baby should arrive pretty soon.

The garden is looking good. I have managed to stay on top of the weeds rather well so far. All the pumpkins I planted are coming in. I didn't expect that, but don't mind as long as some body fruits. here have been times were I got flowers but no pumpkin. Hopefully the bees will help with this problem. I had to replant cucumbers. I still have time for that. I was harped on fr it being so late, but I have until mid-July to get some things in and still be able to harvest before frost. No worries there.

We are planning a rather large Fourth of July bash. It will be our last one on the homestead. I figured we should enjoy it.

Happy Father's Day!

I miss my father.



This was the only thing I could find online. I have more, moved them onto flickr before my old computer went dead, but I can't retrieve them right now. It was hard going back over the posts about my father, and his death.

Today we celebrate it with my boys father.