Green Eggs for Christmas

We have several chickens that lay colored eggs.
We had not yet recieved any colored eggs and had been eargerly awaiting, you don't know what color they will lay until they start (Blue,Green and Pink).

Today, for Christmas, we got GREEN EGGS!  Two green eggs amongst our white and brown.

Reindeer for Ripley

Ripley loved this big Reindeer.  He played with it all the time.

I bought him a little Reindeer a few weeks back for Christmas, I just didn't get to give it to him. 

Ripley was our entertainment at Christmas for the last few years.  We are struggling through this Holiday.

Ollie's gotta go out, even in a Blizzard

DC is having record setting snow.  Ollie and I are riding out the snow, but I had to shovel him a spot to go potty.

The snow was about 1/2 way up my thigh, and it still had many hours of snow fall.

Ollie was happy to have a spot that he needed, but now he is ready to go back in.

He learned this from Ripley.  When you really want a door/gate to open - jump as high as you can.

 

Our patio table. This was about 4pm.

 We are due to have about 2 inches/hour until 9. Its now 6:30, and I'm going to have to go out in the dark and re-shovel Ollie's area.

I brought Ripely home... one last time.

I made arrangements for Ripley to be cremated.  Today I picked up his ashes.

As they handed me the box, my heart sank, as I got into the truck I hugged the box and burst into tears .... again.

The sticker on the front of the box said "Ripley Snell". I cautiously opened the box. On top was a certificate of who prepared the box, and what was in it, along with a card. There was a simple (but nice) wooden box in a velvet cover. I pulled out the box, and took it out of the velvet cover.  I tried to open it – but it appears to be sealed shut. I didn’t force it. They did a wonderful, respectful job.


Reality is so painful, but I’m happy to have him home.

Remembering Ripley

We lost Ripley yesterday morning unexpectedly. . He had a series of heart attacks, and while I was trying to figure out what was wrong, and his long term prognosis his last gift to me what not making me have to choose.

Ripley was my baby. When you don't have children to nurture you replace that with pets. In all the time that Roger has been gone, Ripley was my constant. In my time here in Virginia - Ripley was my rock.

Spenser and I picked Ripley up when he was 11 weeks old.  His breeder thought he was not interested in birds....

We left with no real understanding of what having a pointer meant, and no desire to hunt.  Our goals were short hair, medium size and no real emotional or health baggage. We struggled trying to find the perfect name for him.  Roger decided that he needed an English name ... since he was an English Pointer.  He pulled out a map, and found "Ripley's Castle".

This picture inspired his registered name.  He was the king of our castle, and he became "Sir Wesmor's Ripley"

We were amazed at this dogs interest in things that flied.  He would point at fly's and bees for long periods of time. His energy was never ending, and he inspired us to learn to hunt.  Not for us, but to watch him work.  He became an amazing hunter.  He was never more happy than in the field.

He became our faithful traveler, and we took him everywhere.

He was our entertainment.

He hated this hat ... every year.

What you don't see in this Rubber Duckie picture are his 6 siblings below him that are unable to get on the deck, he stole the duckie from him, and is very proud.

He was our tigger that could jump 6 feet strait up.

We all confided in him....

For the last two years I spoke to him more than any other living thing.  I decided it wasn't really a problem so long as he didn't start talking back.

There are so many things I already miss about him.  He was SOOO proud of himself to roll in horse manure, I'll even miss him peeing on everything.

As I begin to grieve  for him I have many questions. 

While his last few hours were not easy for me to witness, I knew he had been happy.  I didn't want to have to watch him suffer, and I was never sure how I could make that decision.  He is gone from us too soon.

I'm left with wonderful memories, but with a huge feeling of emptiness.  I'm left with Ollie - the second rate dog that I got for Ripley's companion.  Ollie has never been alone, and he too is lost.

Everywhere we turn Ripley is engrained in our lives.  He is everywhere in our home, and we are struggling to find our direction, we've lost a member of our family -

and I've lost my best friend.

DC's four seasons

I've now experienced each season here twice. I thought it seemed liked a good time to reflect on how I feel about them.

Fall
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooling from the hot summers, the crisp air, the leaves, and lots of apples. I enjoy that I can take my dogs out for a run without them getting heat stroke. The dogs love that I can take them places in the truck with me.

Winter
Sucks. I've found nothing worth while. I live in a Valley and have a constant 30 mph wind (sometimes MUCH higher). It's cold, its dark, and the trees look dead.

Spring
In Seattle I never really noticed spring. Here I spend 2 months watching the trees bud. It's my first sign that the end of winter is in sight. I "will" the leaves to come, and enjoy a bit of thawing warmth. Of course we have the Cherry Blossoms, but I find the unraveling of green leaves just as exciting. We often have babies born around farm life as well. Spring bring lost of yard work/Farm work, and I really kinda like it.

Summer
The summer's are hot. They can be quite miserable, but I have found things to appreciate.
Food grown in the hot sun has much more flavor, then the crap we get in the Pacific Northwest. I love to pick a warm tomato off of the vine in my yard. I enjoy the warm nights, to sit out and watch the sun set.

So what... Now I'm a Harley Girl?

My husband just bought me this bike. YES THIS BIKE.

This model, this color!

Did I want a bike, I'm not sure. We did go sit on them a few months back, and IF I was going to ride these were the ones that would work the best for me.

I'm a bit afraid, he promises me that he will be patient and not be mad at me if I chose not to ride. He said that it will just be another one he can ride. ;-)

It won't arrive for a couple of weeks, I just don't want to be a "Harley Girl"

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Well here at our house, it was the chickens.

(One of our roosters)
Back in March I recieved 32 baby chicks, and they finally have started to earn their keep.

(Our bird dogs favorite food)
When they didn't start laying this fall ... we assumed we weren't going to get any eggs until spring, but the chickens decided they were ready. They are really small, but should get bigger as they get more comfortable laying.

I didn't buy "egg layers", so they aren't willingly giving up their eggs. Turns out they hid most of these, and we've just now realized we have to dig for the rest.

My most recent Seattleites

My Sister/Brother-in-law and friends (Clarence and Lynn) were here last week.

They did the White House tour. Did you know 2 Million Americans are on the wait list?

I really enjoy people coming to visit. Giving my family and friends the chance to see our capital is good - while it doesn't make up for being away from home - it counts for something.

It's been a long year for me. Work is good - but between working, commuting and taking care of a house and yard I was burnt out. I thought I needed a vacation (it's been more than a year) - I think all I really needed was to laugh.

There isn't alot of laughing that goes on there anymore. Spenser makes me laugh - but he is gone most of the time. Having these 4 very entertaining people here ... made me laugh. It was alot of lots of fun.

Within no time I could feel stress leaving my body.

I just needed to laugh ... thank you.

I feel better. :-)

You're welcome back any time.

My commute on the front page of MSNBC

Montgomery Co, MD has had some traffic light issues causing havoc during our commutes.

90 minutes turning into 2+ hours each way ... will make a person cranky.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33695476

6th inning of the World Series

AND IT'S 11:30 at night!

This whole East Coast things sucks when it comes to sports. Am I not supposed to sleep during the playoffs?

It's a good thing I get an extra hour tonight.

A pillow's last moments

Ripley is a wonderful dog ... right before my guests from Seattle were to arrive he destroyed a pillow.

Why?

What makes him decide he can't let the pillow live any longer?

Notice the "Snow Angel" where his tail is wagging.

It's a work from home day.

And the dogs are really happy about that.

Ripley making sure I don't get up

We've had some really nasty cold weather, they were happy to soak up some sun.

Expecting People in Purcellville

As I'm being reminded, I'm not blogging.

Work is very busy right now and outside of working/commuting my days are spent on course work or spent shoveling horse manure, mowing, filling Ollie's holes, and just general outside fall care.

Apples are in season, and they are my second favorite food. My pear tree was overproducing and on the verge of breaking the limbs so I ended up feeding much of them to the horses, goats and chickens.

Roger is due home on Tuesday for a couple of weeks. It's sooner than we had planned which is great - but will make the next separation MUCH longer. Then the following Tuesday my sister/brother-in-law and some friends of theirs are due in. They will be mostly sight seeing, with big plans for DC. I will show them how to use the metro - then they are on their own.

I'm sure I'll be posting some fall pictures soon - cause it's the best time of year here.

WR327 - Technical Writing

It's that time again. While I really don't have time for a class right now, it needs to be done.

So this quarter is Technical writing.

The course will be made of of weekly assignments in which we learn 1 new aspect/week about a technical report writing. We will also be writing a final report. Each week we will be working on a similiar aspect of the report.

For the first week ... we have to pick three topics from which 1 will be chosen for our final LARGE report. Each topic must contain at least a dozen technical questions so that our instructor can pick 1 from the 3 for us.

What should I pick? These are my ideas so far...

1. Does a DTH (Delayed type hypersensitivity) invivo model mimic any human disease?


2. Nature vs Nurture, which is more powerful in our development?


3. What the real risks of parenthood over 40? How old is too old?


4. Inbreeding and linebreeding, how we are narrowing the gene pool.
   
5. Free Range or Feed Lot, which is better for our health?
   
6. Although required, how relevant is animal pharmacology in drug development for Humans?

Any votes?

A New home for my bats

In my quest for a more "natural and green" life I look for things that use less energy, less chemicals, and do less damage.

I have all kinds of bugs... I've had alot of damage to a variety of pests. Damage in this part of the country is not always to vegetation. Northern Virginia has a terrible Lyme problem spread by ticks, and heart worm spread by mosquitoes.

I like to sit outside while the sun comes down, and I noticed that I have two bats that fly in and out of my trees. Bats really get a bad rap from society ... bats can eat hundreds of bugs an hour.

So I decided that I would try to encourage my bat population, I did some research about how to attract them, and bought them a specialized bat house. I placed it near the hole in a tree that I think is their current home, facing the correct way and at the proper height - and hope they will move in come spring, and raise their young.

(Can you see it in the trees?)

On the other side of the fence

Those of you that know my dogs, know that they run non-stop. Take a look at these videos and look at how still my dogs are.

Their tails should be at 90 degrees, but to be honest, they've been out for hours, I think they are just tired of holding them up.

The chickens are doing well, but still no eggs.

Should be any day now. This is only about 1/2 the flock, as it was starting to rain and the others were inside.

My Neighborhood

So, I've been asked a number of time lately what it's like where I live. I'm guessing because people want to know just how bad things really are, or aren't.

So, using the little Canon A480 camera that Raytheon gave me a couple of weeks ago just for being here, I went out on my way to lunch today and took a series of four pictures from the center of my "complex" in each of the four directions. Keep im mind that I made no effort to take good pictures, as this camera has no viewfinder, only the LCD on the back, and that I wear polarized lenses for sunglasses, so can't really see any display. You get what you get!

So, in this first picture, you can see our bunkers in the middle, with the 12' T-walls lining our living spaces, which are low-qua;ity industrial trailers that have been modified to have three rooms, in my case, for six people to live. Not the tall pole in the distance which is out emergency PA system, and the porta-john way back by the road.

Now, in this picture, you should notice that dull, flat, and generally barren topology of our central corridor, the "alley" or service road that splits our housing area in half. I live on the "wrong" side of the track, though it does put me pretty close to the medical clinic. But, it does mean I'm about as far away from everything else as I can be.

Now this area is where all the services are set up, such as the showers, toilets, and generators. Our utilities are underground for the most part, which in our trailers only means you can't see the wires, as we only have electricity to our trailers.

Then, based on all the press you've heard about shoddy workmanship on the electrical systems over here, there must be some truth to it because we are forever having electrical inspections and work done to our rooms. That should strike everyone as being odd since wiring the in most US houses have to be about 25-50 years old before they need any sort of work, and these aren't even 6 years old yet and are being redone multiple times a year, and people continue to be electrocuted.

We have three outlets in our room, so Fred and I each have one, and the refrigerator takes the third one. Oh, there is another specially wired for our air conditioner, which just happens to blow its cold air over my bed, making multiple blankets a requirement, year round. We have a single window, which has been covered over with plywood, more or less. I'm thinking more to keep explosions from shattering glass all over us, but serving a secondary purpose of keeping the room dark during the day, for those that have to sleep during the day.

Now, in this last picture, you again see the bunkers, but these are covered in sandbags, shich helps dampen the shrapnel. In the distance you can see our water tanks, which are filled with big tanker trucks, and all our water is pumped from these. In a time where the temperatures are around 120 degrees F, that means that all our water is that temperature too. Needless to say, you can get scaulded if you're not paying attention.

Cool water is what you get out of your refrigerator -- it exists no place else. Thank goodness my friend Bert gave me his refrigerator when he left. (I'm too cheap to spend $200 to buy one of these you can buy anywheres in the US for $150.) Free is good. I continue to scrounge stuff to make the place better, such as all of the plastic shelving I've fished out of the recycle bins.

So, my roommate and share a 12x13 room, we each have a wall-locker, a twin bed, and a night-stand. Anything else you have to get on your own, and nothing is cheap, other than the pirated movies the Iraqis sell all over the place. The nearest toilet and shower for us is about 200 meters away, the nearest bunker about half that, and the entire place is covered in smooth round river rock... Did I mention I hate river rock? Makes walking in sand seem easy...

Throw all this together, and I commute only about a mile to the office, on foot. A quarter mile to the shower and back, a mile to work, another half mile to get lunch and dinner, followed by another mile back to my room. Then add that I walk 3 miles each morning, plus all the additional night trips to the bathroom, and you can see that I have learned how to walk!

Erika's trip to VA/DC

So my niece Erika was here for the last couple of weeks. She worked at a local barn, and we did some sight seeing.

-----------------------------------------She did come in the same day Ripley got sick, so we missed out on some things while trying to care for Ripley.

However ... she really liked Ollie. I tried to shove him into her bag this morning.