I start with thanking Justine for a very constructive 2nd comment that didn't feel like an attack. We are trying as two individuals to come to the meeting of two minds. That is a good thing.
This is Justine's second comment to me:
'Well Kim, if I had a blog, you would be most welcome to post on it. You are also welcome to come with me on a tour of a factory farm followed by a tour of a farm animal sanctuary. I think you will see the difference. Yes roosters fight naturally to establish a pecking order. When there's room to move around, it's easier for them to create a natural hierarchy to follow and for the non-dominant males to stay safely away from the dominant ones.
When you say liberalism, why don't you say what you really mean? Extremism. You think people who care about animal rights are extremists. At the opposite end of the spectrum, you are also an extremist. You don't believe that animals should have the slightest bit of comfort before they die.
I'm not asking you today to give up beef or to close your farm. That is too much to ask and I don't want to take away your livelihood. I'm asking that you consider that there is both a humane and sustainable way to farm. Even if you don't believe that animals have a right to live and not be eaten, I hope that you will realize that animals do not need to suffer prior to their death. They don't need to be forced into small cages, they don't need to have their beaks docked, they don't need to live their lives in pain and fear. There's a middle ground.
Take care!'
Justine it is with pleasure I hope with this post you understand more about my family and most importantly me. Our family believes in sustainable ranching. We chose the Lowline Angus specifically because they can sustain themselves on grass. Crossing with very highly efficient Santa Gertrudis gives us the ability to educate local cattle producers an alternative to having to feed a large amount of harvest products to sustain the cattle through the winter months. With price of fuel and grain going through the roof last year, feed and fuel is no longer cheap. The American Consumer of Beef loves grain fed beef. There is a segment of the population who is discovering organic or natural grain fed beef and organic or natural grass-fed beef. The two taste very different. The Lowline Angus is perfect for all types of operations in the beef industry. For years with cheap feed, fertilizer, and fuel we were told bigger is better with cattle. Research out of Dickinson Research Center of North Dakota State University has found cows in the 1000-1200 lb range are much more efficient producers of the grass they eat and as a percentage of their body weight can wean a calf that weighs half of what they do. This allows producers to stock more cattle and raise more pounds of beef per acre. Their nutrition requirements are less then a cow weighing 1600-1800 lbs. If I can stock three cows in the smaller range for every two of the larger cows and still have adequate grass then I'm selling more pounds of beef. I'll have three calves weighing 1500 lbs vs two calves weighing 1200lbs. My income rises. The other upside to this is allowing more land to be used to raise crops. I really consider myself a grass farmer growing native grasses having far more nutrients then improved grasses. I utilize the sun and rain to produce a crop of grass. I market the grass in the form of cattle. I also am very aware of improving my wildlife population. If I improved the habitat for my wildlife I provide a better habitat for my cattle.
Our family finds inhumane treatment of any animal as wrong. I have been to and worked on what you call a factory farm as well as spent time at horse sanctuaries. I've always had a deep abiding love for animals especially horses. I've been around horses for 41 years, owned them for 39 years. They are a part of my sole. I'm lost without a horse. I do find animal rights activists as extremist. I'm not, I dislike organizations like PETA and HSUS that loves to use shock value to force their extremist concepts on people. I often think of my Puritan ancestors who spoke of tolerance in their beliefs, but in reality were no more tolerant then anyone else of the time period. Because of their desire for tolerance for their beliefs, I fully believe we should all be tolerant of others beliefs. I had a close friend from Virginia who came down and showed me a picture of PETA members arriving at a Hunter/Jumper show throwing tomatoes at the participants in the ring riding their horses. She was the Show Secretary for the show. That was inhumane to the horses never mind endangering the riders. There was no tolerance that day for anyone at the show. 95,000 animals under PETA's care last year were euthanized last year. I'm sure they would say they were all terminal. I had my vet tell me one time a Greyhound I found on the side of a county road wasn't going to make it. She was seven years old and lived to 13 years old. HSUS is currently calling for broiler chickens to die from carbon monoxide gassing but actively lobbies against dogs and cats to go through the same thing. I find this concept bigoted. I voice my opinion, there is a place in our country for all beliefs on a range of subjects. I respect your desire to be a vegan and I think it is wonderful you are. Your comment to me shows me you respect me for having cattle and I think, too, for enjoying meat in my diet. Our garden is grown organically. We try very hard to only eat a whole food diet. I bake all of our bread to avoid the preservatives. I admit we slide on occasion, mostly my husband and son. Like you when possible I buy local or directly from a farmer. We really aren't that far apart.
In relation from this post to the last you were much more kind and I appreciate it. It's ok if what I write makes you think I'm an extremist. I know I'm not. I'm much more a realist. The real facts are so very apparent about food and the production of food. We are a rich nation in both culture and technology. We are the richest nation in the world because our country has the very best environment and soils to produce a huge amount of food. The world is still growing with a projected growth of 80 million people from 7/08 to 7/09. There is an approximately 6.7 billion people in the world. They all need to eat. 30 years ago as I started my college education we could feed our nation and the world. There were half the people. We have lost 100 million acres of farm & ranch land to urban development. Not feeding the world could have all kinds of consequences. Look at Africa to realize what happens when a country can't feed it's citizens. That bothers me greatly! It bothered me to hear of individuals in the richest nation (not in $ value) were selling family heirlooms to eat, pay their house note, and keep the electricity on in the last year. People had to make the choice between eating and paying the house note.
I call it liberalism because of the individuals in PETA and HSUS get the liberal politicians to listen to their shock value ideology. If the conservative side listened they'd vote conservative. The politicians are only interested in getting re-elected.
I agree there is a middle ground, but when someone posts 15 lbs of grain to produce a pound of gain in cattle, they are nuts. I invite that person to please read the following information available by South Dakota State Univ. Research has been done in all of the areas discussed in this article. There is even the reason behind why those who say cattle eat 16lbs of grain per lb of gain to get to slaughter weight. It's just easier to read it then me get on my soap box.
Beef by Richard Goodrich & W. Ray Stricklin
You really need to believe that all livestock producers want what is best for their animals. They feel that way because a healthy happy animal grows or produces well.
I'll give you an example of just such a thing happening to us as a family. Our daughter Lynn asked to raise and then show a market hog her sophomore year in FFA. We purchased a show pig for $200.00 and at the particular time I borrowed the money because we didn't have it. We purchased the pig at the last possible moment and the chances were very great the pig wouldn't make it to minimum weight to be shown. We were told to buy a "non show pig" so she would eat better. We couldn't afford to feed two. We didn't buy the other pig. Their stomachs are like ours and you can't push them hard. When Lynn's pig arrived at the county fair the gentleman that help Lynn's Ag teacher pick up the pig and deliver her to us was amazed this pig not only made weight but would be in the Heavy Weight Class. On top of that she never had to be held so she wouldn't go over weight. Lynn wasn't around and her Ag Teacher asked how she did it. I smiled, 'Traylor you won't believe it when I tell you, it's as simple as "Happy Pig." Lynn's best friend for five months was her pig. They raced around the barn together with her pig always winning by two laps, rolled in the mud, had a bath, worked together practicing for walking in the show ring every evening it wasn't raining. In fact where we lived at the time the neighbors around us would sit out on their porches to laugh and enjoy the interaction Lynn and her pig had. Her gilt would grunt the funniest noise every time she would lap Lynn. And the racing was the pig's idea not Lynn's.
I actually think if you start researching "factory farm" practices you'll find we aren't cruel to animals, including laying hens.
Then here is another food for thought. We lost $12,000 dollars from the loss of three calves to coyotes on our ranch in August and early September last year. What would you have done? The number one stress on our ranch for the cattle is coyotes and not the humans. We need the coyotes to control the rabbit, mice, rat and feral cat and hog populations. It's about balancing our wildlife.
Kim
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A Internet Friend Reminds Me of My Memories & Space
Kat RN, as I know my Internet friend from Scrapbooks, Etc. Website. I so love her blogs. I've found her blog on the web via her blog on SBEtc just as I have one there. Kat recently paid tribute to her memories of both her parents. Wow, I had tears welling in my eyes.
Her mother trained as a machinist in Technical School. WWII ended as she graduated....read Kat's post I could not in anyway pay a greater tribute in words then Kat did. Her father loved flying. I can so relate. I love flying, too! Yet I love animals more. I have two brothers who are pilots. Her father loved the Space Program. Throughout my young life the Space Program was forever apart of it.
My dearest memories of NASA.
On the day of the first Moon Walk from the Eagle my Dad & Mom were so excited. The whole country was excited. We were a people that were going to have something no other country could claim. And we'll do it again in my lifetime! We were living in Wilmington, Delaware. I remember Dad having us stay up to watch "History." I was trying so hard to keep my eyes open, it must have been close to 10pm. I was eight years old. I did keep them open, I saw the FIRST STEP! I heard the words....I was proud I was an American!
Late that same year Daddy started leaving on business trips a lot for Houston. Around April I asked at the dinner table one evening, 'Are we moving?' I'd remembered four years before the same thing happened just before we moved from Niagara Falls to Wilmington. Daddy said yes, this summer. In June, we stayed with friends as Mom met Daddy in Houston to look for a new house. They came home together. They had found a house.
For those in Kat's and my age group you can remember back in the '60's and '70's the astronauts were on the same level as Hollywood Stars. Sometimes I think bigger. My parents told me were moving into a house that was across the street from the Conrads and the Lovells lived in the same neighborhood. Oh my Gosh, real astronauts! I became a sudden celebrity at school.
We arrived in the Clear Lake Area on July 21st, 1970. I saw the Conrad Home for the first time the next day. I also saw John Glenn's home. It had just sold and was one of the houses my parents looked at. We were devastated they didn't buy a house that used to belong to an ASTRONAUT! Mom looked at Doug and I and said, 'It's on the canal and you two can't swim.' One week later we both could, but that's another story!
I remember meeting Chris Conrad the first time. At nine I thought he was so cute. And he lived across the street. Chris and I were the two youngest in our grade at Bay Elem. in Seabrook. He had three older brothers Peter, Thomas, and Andy.
It didn't take long to get over the star struck thing. I remember babysitting for the Lovells, going on skeet shooting trips in a local pasture with Peter or Thomas overseeing the younger kids. I remember swimming in the Conrad's pool. They were just like us. My father worked as a Chemical Engineer and the others had astronauts for fathers. I could name a list a mile long of the astronauts I know and were friends with their children. They are people just like I am.
There was a different feeling back then in the Clear Lake Area. Pride in NASA, pride in being an American. Everyone was touched some way or the other by the space program. Here's some other memories.
Production of the television movie starring Gary Collins, 'Houston We've Got a Problem' holds fond memories. Jack King who headed up Mission Control at the time was very involved in the production. Jack and his wife were close friends of my parents. I remember one afternoon after school the house suddenly filled with about 10 people and were given a tour. When they left Mom said they chose the painting of the Delaware River near Shawnee, Pa., to be in the movie. It was a painting my grandfather commission from his home there. Wow, we were excited. The whole family was invited down to watch one of the scenes being taped at the King's house. Sure enough there was "OUR" painting above the mantel of their fireplace. Their house had been transformed into a set. Cables were everywhere, their family room furniture was piled in their formal living room. Other furniture was selected for the scenes shot in the King's house.
I remember how excited Clear Lake was as we were headed back to space with the Space Station. The whole place was all a buzz. I remember the station moored in Clear Lake just across NASA 1 from JSC. New stickers were being added to cars for that flight. It was a badge to be a NASA employee back then and proudly display the flight crest stickers. If you displayed all of the flights you sat at the top of the heap! I remember Chris really missing his Dad. Then the day he returned home. Chris and I rode the bus home from school. It was the first flight Mr. Conrad had since we moved in. His other flights came before we moved to Texas. It was a zoo out in front of the house. Then it happened.....the door to the bus remained closed. Chris was at the front of the line. Six of us got off the bus at that end of our street. Bright lights shined in the bus, Mrs. Conrad was angry and fussing at the reporters. I look back on it and know our bus driver had dealt with it before. Chris disgusted said, it happens every time to me standing right behind him. I remember hitting the ground running for my house. I wanted nothing to do with the press. All of us kids in the neighborhood stayed in the house that afternoon. I found Mom disgusted, too. Our front lawn looked like a trash pit. Needless to say it took until after the 10pm news for them to leave. My mother went out too many times to count and told them to get off the lawn. The next morning my brothers and I went out to pick up the trash they left behind. Chris and his brothers doing the same. Thus my distaste for media cameras as an adult.
I think the neatest thing that during Mr. Conrad's stay aboard Space Lab, Mr. King took all of the kids to Mission Control over at JSC. Not all at one time, there were probably 300 kids or more in the neighborhood. I went with my brothers and Ellen who lived across the street, too. We lived on the corner. It was so cool to sit quietly and listen to all that was going on. What a treat.
Then the first flight of Columbia. Mr. Young and Mr. Crippen. I knew Mr. Crippen well. His daughter and I kept our horses at the same boarding stable and were good friends. Mom and Mrs. Crippen very close friends. Another new first for our nation, but the rest of the nation no longer put astronauts on the level of Hollywood Stars. I remember before the flight, Columbia was on it's way to KSC aboard it's 747. They were going to do a fly over of the Clear Lake Area. I was now in High School. I was a junior or senior, can't really remember. I remember our principal telling us during morning announcements we would get a five minute heads up and we would be released as in a fire drill to watch the fly over. When the fire drill bell rang the shop wing didn't walk, we flooded the hall and ran to the student parking lot. There were only four classes. I was taking drafting. The roar that went up from the students of Clear Lake High School could be heard for miles I'm sure. It sounded from around the entire school. WE WERE PROUD!
Then came a moment of devastation. When I was little I asked about the plaque at the front honoring Commander See and Commander Grisham. Astronauts that died. Commander See on a training mission in an F4 and Comander Grisham of course in Apollo 1. All before we moved to Texas. This was a cold rainy morning in Jan. of 1986. I was in my first semester at Texas A&M as a Graduate Student. I finished my morning classes and went to grab lunch. I didn't know any of my fellow students yet. I was commuting from my job in East Texas twice a week. I went to a local restaurant to grab a bite before labs. I sat down, looked up at the TV and saw a clip of the Challenger rising. I knew there was a flight, I'd not paid much attention to it, and in fact the media never paid much attention. I was surprised, the sound turned down but the scrolling of what was being said was being played. I wasn't reading. To my horror I watched Challenger explode. Right there in the middle of the restaurant I started to sob. Someone came over to me, asked if I was ok. NO, I have to call home, I have to know if I knew any of the astronauts. I ran from the store to find, yes a pay phone. A collect call to my mother, crying, "Mom tell me I don't know anyone aboard the Challenger?" Micheal Smith the pilot, and I slumped to the floor! Until your life is surrounded by a program such as NASA and your pride in your country is created in a program of heroes both who fly and are on the ground helping our men and women in Space you become a part of a huge community that is pulled together. That is NASA! I was able to return home that weekend. Headlights throughout Texas were on, driving down NASA 1 past JSC was 20 miles an hour out of respect. People were still crying as they drove past NASA. We hurt as a community. It was the same when Columbia was lost on re-entry. Yet, I didn't know any of the astronauts on that flight. I still fell apart when I heard the news.
I am a product of NASA even though my father didn't work there. I eat live and breathe the space program. I love the space program. I lived history day in and day out. Funny thing, I've never asked a single astronaut what it was like to walk on the moon or be in space. I had the privilege of taking my great-nephew to Johnson Space Center last summer. I'll pull the pictures off and put them up on this post later today or tomorrow. I had fun showing Blake the Astronauts I knew in the pictures from the '60's and '70's. I'm also going to spell check it later, it's 2:30am. Good night!
Kim
Her mother trained as a machinist in Technical School. WWII ended as she graduated....read Kat's post I could not in anyway pay a greater tribute in words then Kat did. Her father loved flying. I can so relate. I love flying, too! Yet I love animals more. I have two brothers who are pilots. Her father loved the Space Program. Throughout my young life the Space Program was forever apart of it.
My dearest memories of NASA.
On the day of the first Moon Walk from the Eagle my Dad & Mom were so excited. The whole country was excited. We were a people that were going to have something no other country could claim. And we'll do it again in my lifetime! We were living in Wilmington, Delaware. I remember Dad having us stay up to watch "History." I was trying so hard to keep my eyes open, it must have been close to 10pm. I was eight years old. I did keep them open, I saw the FIRST STEP! I heard the words....I was proud I was an American!
Late that same year Daddy started leaving on business trips a lot for Houston. Around April I asked at the dinner table one evening, 'Are we moving?' I'd remembered four years before the same thing happened just before we moved from Niagara Falls to Wilmington. Daddy said yes, this summer. In June, we stayed with friends as Mom met Daddy in Houston to look for a new house. They came home together. They had found a house.
For those in Kat's and my age group you can remember back in the '60's and '70's the astronauts were on the same level as Hollywood Stars. Sometimes I think bigger. My parents told me were moving into a house that was across the street from the Conrads and the Lovells lived in the same neighborhood. Oh my Gosh, real astronauts! I became a sudden celebrity at school.
We arrived in the Clear Lake Area on July 21st, 1970. I saw the Conrad Home for the first time the next day. I also saw John Glenn's home. It had just sold and was one of the houses my parents looked at. We were devastated they didn't buy a house that used to belong to an ASTRONAUT! Mom looked at Doug and I and said, 'It's on the canal and you two can't swim.' One week later we both could, but that's another story!
I remember meeting Chris Conrad the first time. At nine I thought he was so cute. And he lived across the street. Chris and I were the two youngest in our grade at Bay Elem. in Seabrook. He had three older brothers Peter, Thomas, and Andy.
It didn't take long to get over the star struck thing. I remember babysitting for the Lovells, going on skeet shooting trips in a local pasture with Peter or Thomas overseeing the younger kids. I remember swimming in the Conrad's pool. They were just like us. My father worked as a Chemical Engineer and the others had astronauts for fathers. I could name a list a mile long of the astronauts I know and were friends with their children. They are people just like I am.
There was a different feeling back then in the Clear Lake Area. Pride in NASA, pride in being an American. Everyone was touched some way or the other by the space program. Here's some other memories.
Production of the television movie starring Gary Collins, 'Houston We've Got a Problem' holds fond memories. Jack King who headed up Mission Control at the time was very involved in the production. Jack and his wife were close friends of my parents. I remember one afternoon after school the house suddenly filled with about 10 people and were given a tour. When they left Mom said they chose the painting of the Delaware River near Shawnee, Pa., to be in the movie. It was a painting my grandfather commission from his home there. Wow, we were excited. The whole family was invited down to watch one of the scenes being taped at the King's house. Sure enough there was "OUR" painting above the mantel of their fireplace. Their house had been transformed into a set. Cables were everywhere, their family room furniture was piled in their formal living room. Other furniture was selected for the scenes shot in the King's house.
I remember how excited Clear Lake was as we were headed back to space with the Space Station. The whole place was all a buzz. I remember the station moored in Clear Lake just across NASA 1 from JSC. New stickers were being added to cars for that flight. It was a badge to be a NASA employee back then and proudly display the flight crest stickers. If you displayed all of the flights you sat at the top of the heap! I remember Chris really missing his Dad. Then the day he returned home. Chris and I rode the bus home from school. It was the first flight Mr. Conrad had since we moved in. His other flights came before we moved to Texas. It was a zoo out in front of the house. Then it happened.....the door to the bus remained closed. Chris was at the front of the line. Six of us got off the bus at that end of our street. Bright lights shined in the bus, Mrs. Conrad was angry and fussing at the reporters. I look back on it and know our bus driver had dealt with it before. Chris disgusted said, it happens every time to me standing right behind him. I remember hitting the ground running for my house. I wanted nothing to do with the press. All of us kids in the neighborhood stayed in the house that afternoon. I found Mom disgusted, too. Our front lawn looked like a trash pit. Needless to say it took until after the 10pm news for them to leave. My mother went out too many times to count and told them to get off the lawn. The next morning my brothers and I went out to pick up the trash they left behind. Chris and his brothers doing the same. Thus my distaste for media cameras as an adult.
I think the neatest thing that during Mr. Conrad's stay aboard Space Lab, Mr. King took all of the kids to Mission Control over at JSC. Not all at one time, there were probably 300 kids or more in the neighborhood. I went with my brothers and Ellen who lived across the street, too. We lived on the corner. It was so cool to sit quietly and listen to all that was going on. What a treat.
Then the first flight of Columbia. Mr. Young and Mr. Crippen. I knew Mr. Crippen well. His daughter and I kept our horses at the same boarding stable and were good friends. Mom and Mrs. Crippen very close friends. Another new first for our nation, but the rest of the nation no longer put astronauts on the level of Hollywood Stars. I remember before the flight, Columbia was on it's way to KSC aboard it's 747. They were going to do a fly over of the Clear Lake Area. I was now in High School. I was a junior or senior, can't really remember. I remember our principal telling us during morning announcements we would get a five minute heads up and we would be released as in a fire drill to watch the fly over. When the fire drill bell rang the shop wing didn't walk, we flooded the hall and ran to the student parking lot. There were only four classes. I was taking drafting. The roar that went up from the students of Clear Lake High School could be heard for miles I'm sure. It sounded from around the entire school. WE WERE PROUD!
Then came a moment of devastation. When I was little I asked about the plaque at the front honoring Commander See and Commander Grisham. Astronauts that died. Commander See on a training mission in an F4 and Comander Grisham of course in Apollo 1. All before we moved to Texas. This was a cold rainy morning in Jan. of 1986. I was in my first semester at Texas A&M as a Graduate Student. I finished my morning classes and went to grab lunch. I didn't know any of my fellow students yet. I was commuting from my job in East Texas twice a week. I went to a local restaurant to grab a bite before labs. I sat down, looked up at the TV and saw a clip of the Challenger rising. I knew there was a flight, I'd not paid much attention to it, and in fact the media never paid much attention. I was surprised, the sound turned down but the scrolling of what was being said was being played. I wasn't reading. To my horror I watched Challenger explode. Right there in the middle of the restaurant I started to sob. Someone came over to me, asked if I was ok. NO, I have to call home, I have to know if I knew any of the astronauts. I ran from the store to find, yes a pay phone. A collect call to my mother, crying, "Mom tell me I don't know anyone aboard the Challenger?" Micheal Smith the pilot, and I slumped to the floor! Until your life is surrounded by a program such as NASA and your pride in your country is created in a program of heroes both who fly and are on the ground helping our men and women in Space you become a part of a huge community that is pulled together. That is NASA! I was able to return home that weekend. Headlights throughout Texas were on, driving down NASA 1 past JSC was 20 miles an hour out of respect. People were still crying as they drove past NASA. We hurt as a community. It was the same when Columbia was lost on re-entry. Yet, I didn't know any of the astronauts on that flight. I still fell apart when I heard the news.
I am a product of NASA even though my father didn't work there. I eat live and breathe the space program. I love the space program. I lived history day in and day out. Funny thing, I've never asked a single astronaut what it was like to walk on the moon or be in space. I had the privilege of taking my great-nephew to Johnson Space Center last summer. I'll pull the pictures off and put them up on this post later today or tomorrow. I had fun showing Blake the Astronauts I knew in the pictures from the '60's and '70's. I'm also going to spell check it later, it's 2:30am. Good night!
Kim
Friday, April 3, 2009
Visiting the End Result of California's Prop 2
I'm stunned, or rather once again I get to pick on the stupidity of California Liberalism. Once again I invite you to visit Advocates for Agriculture.
I have been looked at in life with the look of "You have no idea what it is like to go hungry!" I remember that comment made to me with the look of disdain. I remember my reply. Both individuals I was eating lunch with in a public place were my co-workers. I was angry and insulted that I had no idea what it was like to be poor. I do know what it is like. We didn't qualify for help with food stamps because we had owned our own business. We lost a business, a house and couldn't put food on the table for our children. That's really hard! I suppose the hardest thing for me to handle is what the government does with so called "animal rights" which will cost an increase in the cost of food and those at the lower end of the economic scale.
What is currently before the California Assembly Bill 1437 is to not only require producers within the state to conform to Prop 2 but all eggs coming into the state must conform to Prop 2. So the argument the cost of eggs will only go up a penny a piece or twelve cents a dozen has become mute. When you go to the grocery store the next time take a look at the price of a dozen eggs and the price of cage free eggs. There can be as much as $2.00 difference in cost. So my point stands with the individual who left a comment on my last post. The state is more humane to the chickens then to people being able to afford to eat. On top of it all eggs are and always have been considered a staple food item. The same as flour, bread, sugar, and milk.
I agree with Troy and Stacy on how embolden HSUS has become over this issue. If we allow animal rights activist to go to this extreme we endanger our National Security and leave a legacy of hunger in this country.
I'm stunned, or rather once again I get to pick on the stupidity of California Liberalism. Once again I invite you to visit Advocates for Agriculture.
You ask how this endangers our National Security. Hungry people only think about being hungry and how to get food for their stomach. As a result internal strife can occur. Remember the food riots of last year in some of the third world countries over food prices. Remember the problems in Africa with hunger. It was worse in countries with civil war. Don't ever forget you enjoy the lifestyle you have only because of the American Farmer and Rancher. Photo Credit: Flying J&L Ranch, 2009 Senior Champion Open Lowline Angus Fulblood Bull, LTL Peyton, very tired on day four of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo found it much easier to eat laying down then standing. The HLSR is the largest show dedicated to the celebration of the farmer and rancher in the world.
Please start to care, I know what it is like to be hungry!
Kim
I have been looked at in life with the look of "You have no idea what it is like to go hungry!" I remember that comment made to me with the look of disdain. I remember my reply. Both individuals I was eating lunch with in a public place were my co-workers. I was angry and insulted that I had no idea what it was like to be poor. I do know what it is like. We didn't qualify for help with food stamps because we had owned our own business. We lost a business, a house and couldn't put food on the table for our children. That's really hard! I suppose the hardest thing for me to handle is what the government does with so called "animal rights" which will cost an increase in the cost of food and those at the lower end of the economic scale.
What is currently before the California Assembly Bill 1437 is to not only require producers within the state to conform to Prop 2 but all eggs coming into the state must conform to Prop 2. So the argument the cost of eggs will only go up a penny a piece or twelve cents a dozen has become mute. When you go to the grocery store the next time take a look at the price of a dozen eggs and the price of cage free eggs. There can be as much as $2.00 difference in cost. So my point stands with the individual who left a comment on my last post. The state is more humane to the chickens then to people being able to afford to eat. On top of it all eggs are and always have been considered a staple food item. The same as flour, bread, sugar, and milk.
I agree with Troy and Stacy on how embolden HSUS has become over this issue. If we allow animal rights activist to go to this extreme we endanger our National Security and leave a legacy of hunger in this country.
I'm stunned, or rather once again I get to pick on the stupidity of California Liberalism. Once again I invite you to visit Advocates for Agriculture. You ask how this endangers our National Security. Hungry people only think about being hungry and how to get food for their stomach. As a result internal strife can occur. Remember the food riots of last year in some of the third world countries over food prices. Remember the problems in Africa with hunger. It was worse in countries with civil war. Don't ever forget you enjoy the lifestyle you have only because of the American Farmer and Rancher. Photo Credit: Flying J&L Ranch, 2009 Senior Champion Open Lowline Angus Fulblood Bull, LTL Peyton, very tired on day four of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo found it much easier to eat laying down then standing. The HLSR is the largest show dedicated to the celebration of the farmer and rancher in the world.
Please start to care, I know what it is like to be hungry!
Kim
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Mom Loves You!
Going from no children to one child was a change in my life like no other change I'd ever undergone. For individuals who make the choice to not have children they have no idea what it is like to have a child. I laugh now, but at the age of 18 and even up until I met Larry I didn't want children. Then I fell in love with Larry and that all changed.
I was so blessed to have God give me exactly what I asked for. With Lynn I asked for a healthy baby. With James I asked for a healthy baby and that he/she would look like his sister. Yep, I was one of those who didn't want to know the sex of the baby before birth. Friends thought I was nuts, I thought I was sane. I grew up with one of my two brothers obviously my brother. Poor Doug and I, we always had to look at people funny when they would ask if we were really brother and sister after we'd already just said that we were. It really bothered me. And Lynn and James look enough alike to tell they are brother and sister.
I'm glad they were 18 months apart. They are super close. But I also think the clue to having siblings close is not to interfere in their arguments. As they got to about 7 or 8 years, I'd send them off to their rooms so they could finish the argument. Doug and I still argue as Mom was always trying to solve them. It dawned on me she did so because she was an only child. I just made sure my two didn't hit each other when they argued.
Then there are the joys. As babies it was milestones: rolling over, sitting up, crawling, first smile, first word, walking, etc. When they get to high school you wonder where time went. I couldn't wait for mine to be teenagers. Other parents thought I was crazy. I had wonderful teenagers. Yes, they experienced all of the emotions I did as a teenager, the same apprehensions, the ups and downs of trying to be an adult and not there. The clue to teenagers to not expect them to be bad, to LISTEN to them. I mean really listen to them. Lynn and James were never given curfews. They never abused the fact they didn't have a curfew. They weren't ones to run the streets. We still expect them to be considerate. If your living in the house with someone let us know where your going. We don't care where they are going, it so we know where to start if something happens. Common manners. I still tell my mother where I am since we have two homes or if I'm going somewhere for a weekend, like the yearly Ward family reunion.
Right now I get onto Lynn for texting while driving. I've threatened to shut her texting off if she doesn't stop. She glares at me and I remind her we are the ones with the money. I hate to even talk on my cell phone while driving. I hate phones anyway! And believe it or not, it's James that is the better more responsible driver....I know unheard of!
I loved the picture of Lynn and James together in the living room. At the end of each semester I so enjoy having them both together again.
I absolutely loved the designer for this week on Pencil Lines. You can find a link to her blog on mine. She is a wonderful designer, her name Birgit Knoopsen. I've so enjoyed seeking her designs on chipboard albums. Next time your going to Europe you really should see if you can take a class from her, LOL. Yep I know your leaving next month!
Take a small bit of time and visit Pencil Lines Sketch #128. I had so much fun with this sketch. From the moment I saw the sketch and Brigit's layout for the sketch it was always in the back of my mind how I would but the sketch together. I thought it really deserved for me to use my favorite lines of Paper, Basic Grey! I LOVE BASIC GREY! I would probably only use Basic Grey if I wasn't so head strong and determined to try new things in my scrapping. On this layout there was nothing really new I tried. I did for the first time adhere the metal swirls without a brad. I just love my Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive Pen! Thank you, Pencil Lines for having Birgit and I hope in the near future you will have her back as a guest designer.
I close with saying, I SO LOVE BEING A MOTHER!
Kim
I was so blessed to have God give me exactly what I asked for. With Lynn I asked for a healthy baby. With James I asked for a healthy baby and that he/she would look like his sister. Yep, I was one of those who didn't want to know the sex of the baby before birth. Friends thought I was nuts, I thought I was sane. I grew up with one of my two brothers obviously my brother. Poor Doug and I, we always had to look at people funny when they would ask if we were really brother and sister after we'd already just said that we were. It really bothered me. And Lynn and James look enough alike to tell they are brother and sister.
I'm glad they were 18 months apart. They are super close. But I also think the clue to having siblings close is not to interfere in their arguments. As they got to about 7 or 8 years, I'd send them off to their rooms so they could finish the argument. Doug and I still argue as Mom was always trying to solve them. It dawned on me she did so because she was an only child. I just made sure my two didn't hit each other when they argued.
Then there are the joys. As babies it was milestones: rolling over, sitting up, crawling, first smile, first word, walking, etc. When they get to high school you wonder where time went. I couldn't wait for mine to be teenagers. Other parents thought I was crazy. I had wonderful teenagers. Yes, they experienced all of the emotions I did as a teenager, the same apprehensions, the ups and downs of trying to be an adult and not there. The clue to teenagers to not expect them to be bad, to LISTEN to them. I mean really listen to them. Lynn and James were never given curfews. They never abused the fact they didn't have a curfew. They weren't ones to run the streets. We still expect them to be considerate. If your living in the house with someone let us know where your going. We don't care where they are going, it so we know where to start if something happens. Common manners. I still tell my mother where I am since we have two homes or if I'm going somewhere for a weekend, like the yearly Ward family reunion.
Right now I get onto Lynn for texting while driving. I've threatened to shut her texting off if she doesn't stop. She glares at me and I remind her we are the ones with the money. I hate to even talk on my cell phone while driving. I hate phones anyway! And believe it or not, it's James that is the better more responsible driver....I know unheard of!
I loved the picture of Lynn and James together in the living room. At the end of each semester I so enjoy having them both together again.I absolutely loved the designer for this week on Pencil Lines. You can find a link to her blog on mine. She is a wonderful designer, her name Birgit Knoopsen. I've so enjoyed seeking her designs on chipboard albums. Next time your going to Europe you really should see if you can take a class from her, LOL. Yep I know your leaving next month!
Take a small bit of time and visit Pencil Lines Sketch #128. I had so much fun with this sketch. From the moment I saw the sketch and Brigit's layout for the sketch it was always in the back of my mind how I would but the sketch together. I thought it really deserved for me to use my favorite lines of Paper, Basic Grey! I LOVE BASIC GREY! I would probably only use Basic Grey if I wasn't so head strong and determined to try new things in my scrapping. On this layout there was nothing really new I tried. I did for the first time adhere the metal swirls without a brad. I just love my Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive Pen! Thank you, Pencil Lines for having Birgit and I hope in the near future you will have her back as a guest designer.
I close with saying, I SO LOVE BEING A MOTHER!
Kim
Miles of Smiles!
On Lynn's visit she spent time with Blake on a playground. She caught Blake and three friends at the bottom of a slide. How much fun. I'm assuming it was at the school.
I'm such a Basic Grey kind of person! There has only been two or three of their collections I didn't like. I would even step outside my box if I had them. My favorite of the new collections is Porcelain. It is stunning! I used Recess on this layout. Thank you to 52 Sketches...52 Weeks Sketch #13 for the inspiration. Like I said in my last post I've so been into White Space. I just kept looking at the space and thought the title leaping out of the picture would lend to the children running and jumping on a play ground. Have fun kids!
Keep scrappin'
Kim
Cousins!
I loved the sketch this week for Pink Sketches, #26. The design team took this very simple sketch and did a great job with their layouts. As I look at mine today vs. the sketch, it looks very different to me. I stayed with the colors of the other two graduation layouts I did for Blake's Kindergarten Graduation. I'm so not use to doing LO's for little boys. When I started scraping my son was already in college. I've not even started doing albums of the photos when the kids were little. The picture is Blake with his first cousin Zander. Zander like Blake is one of my great-nephews. He's so cute, but a real handful for his mother. Lynn took the picture in the hallway or I guess it is a hallway of the school. I've only ever been in the gym of the school.
Both are darling in the photo. There are a couple of things I've gone off into in my 12x12 LO's this week. I've gone off into a lot of white space.....hmmm seems I have a lot of red space. I don't know why one wouldn't use the term open space. Maybe that term is reserved for architecture. I've never done a lot of white space. I'm trying to see how it works for me. I'm also seem to be in love with circles and buttons. So maybe that too, will wane in another few days. I do know my candy dish of buttons has gone down. Not too, severely though. My buttons are out where they are in easy reach and in something they are easy to see. Once more I'm trying to get out of the box of comfort for me.
Keep scrappin'
Kim
Both are darling in the photo. There are a couple of things I've gone off into in my 12x12 LO's this week. I've gone off into a lot of white space.....hmmm seems I have a lot of red space. I don't know why one wouldn't use the term open space. Maybe that term is reserved for architecture. I've never done a lot of white space. I'm trying to see how it works for me. I'm also seem to be in love with circles and buttons. So maybe that too, will wane in another few days. I do know my candy dish of buttons has gone down. Not too, severely though. My buttons are out where they are in easy reach and in something they are easy to see. Once more I'm trying to get out of the box of comfort for me.
Keep scrappin'
Kim
Scraping Weekend - Flowers
I've written before about my love of scrapping my gardening habit. Actually I use my garden album as a journal. I have pages that are only journaling so there are a host of pages I don't journal on. The series of photos I'm currently working with are of the roses and their first leaves. I was also still doing spring work on the bed. The wonders of having a rabbitry on top of the cattle. The manure is great, no composting needed. Spring cleaning of the rabbit barn goes straight to the beds. By the next year there is no sign of any manure and no burning of the plants. The soil is incredible, dig in it and I'll find a host of earthworms. I'll miss these roses when we sell the house. Two of the roses were planted in clay pots and buried in the garden. My Killarneys. They made the trip to the ranch right after the Houston Livestock Show. I just have to find a place to put them in the ground, still in the pots. When the house is built at the ranch they'll find a bed of their own and have a few more added to join them.
My goal in my Garden Album/Journal is to have a good time scraping and to keep the LO's simple. I'm working in a 7x7 format. I have gotten detailed as I like to on my 12x12 LO's as I did in a recent Tahitian Sunset picture titled "Real." With this LO of my Wild Blue Yonder I used the 2008 Sketch #17 from 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. It was a sketch I never used last year. I love the Wild Blue Yonder. I plan to purchase another one when we moved to the ranch. The Wild Blue is such a deep red with Purple/blue hints. It looks in the right light a dark blue/red rose.
I seem to always have pictures of my Taihitain Sunset. It's a J&P Rose, very prolific bloomer and pretty tri-color rose. No two Sunsets look alike. It is truly a beautiful rose. I kept this really simple as far as the papers. I used the CM page to form a border, grab a tropical color CM TTY Kit that came with the blue photo mat and three daisy stickers. I added a bright yellow paper from the CM Everyday Power Palette and then Bazzill Stitchiz template to make my daisy and heart. The Bazzill Stitchiz templates are so cool. I don't know if it can be seen in the picture but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the outline stitch to work correctly. I've never had that problem before on paper. Maybe the holes on the template are just too far apart to make the curves properly using outline stitch. I kind of like how the crossing of the thread makes it look like petals.
The Radiant Perfume is a beautiful yellow rose. This was the first year in the garden for this rose. It was suppose to be a very resistant rose to a number of problems including Black Spot. The joys of having year round roses on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast means lots of Black Spot. It's so frustrating. No it wasn't immune but this rose didn't have near the problems as say the Tahiatian Sunset or the Memorial Day does. I scraplifted the LO from the back of the 2009 Spring/Summer Creative Memories Catalog. I was struck with the LO and decided I would Scrap Lift it. I used all CM Papers. The frame was cut using the CM Wavy Patterns. The chipboard and eyelet is the only items not from CM.
Pope John Paul II Rose was introduced by Jackson Perkins three years ago. One of the most stunning white hybrid teas I've ever seen. The fragrance is delicate. As I thought about presenting this rose I turned to the internet and searched for Pope John Paul II images. You always thinking of the Pope being dressed in white. Yet look again! There are pictures of him in a rich red, too. Then his dress has trims of red, black and/or gold. Perfect! The gold paper I used is my favorite. It's a shimmer gold from Creative Memories. It's discontinued and I'm so disappointed! I love the Archiver's exclusive Brackets 4x4 die. You have a choice of three very different decorative brackets. This was definitely one of my favs from this scrap weekend.
The final LO is of my Ronald Reagan Rose. I love the Ronald Reagan. It's a beautiful bi-color rose. A striking rich red with a hint of white at the base of the petal. Just stunning! This LO came from 2008 52 Sketches...52 Weeks Sketch #47. I found when I used the tab, it really is huge on a 7x7 LO. I had a lot of fun with this LO. The red buttons just made the whole LO. What I don't like and it's not that apparent as it is looking at it. I keep highlighting and I don't like how it ever turns out. I guess I'll just keep trying.
All of these LO's were only done with scraps except the black paper for the Pope John Paul II. I really have this thing about having lots of scraps...I go all out to keep them to a minimum. I've not been that good lately, but I've decided to work harder at it. The 7x7 format is the perfect way to use one's scraps!
Keep scrappin'
Kim
My goal in my Garden Album/Journal is to have a good time scraping and to keep the LO's simple. I'm working in a 7x7 format. I have gotten detailed as I like to on my 12x12 LO's as I did in a recent Tahitian Sunset picture titled "Real." With this LO of my Wild Blue Yonder I used the 2008 Sketch #17 from 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. It was a sketch I never used last year. I love the Wild Blue Yonder. I plan to purchase another one when we moved to the ranch. The Wild Blue is such a deep red with Purple/blue hints. It looks in the right light a dark blue/red rose.
I seem to always have pictures of my Taihitain Sunset. It's a J&P Rose, very prolific bloomer and pretty tri-color rose. No two Sunsets look alike. It is truly a beautiful rose. I kept this really simple as far as the papers. I used the CM page to form a border, grab a tropical color CM TTY Kit that came with the blue photo mat and three daisy stickers. I added a bright yellow paper from the CM Everyday Power Palette and then Bazzill Stitchiz template to make my daisy and heart. The Bazzill Stitchiz templates are so cool. I don't know if it can be seen in the picture but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the outline stitch to work correctly. I've never had that problem before on paper. Maybe the holes on the template are just too far apart to make the curves properly using outline stitch. I kind of like how the crossing of the thread makes it look like petals.
The Radiant Perfume is a beautiful yellow rose. This was the first year in the garden for this rose. It was suppose to be a very resistant rose to a number of problems including Black Spot. The joys of having year round roses on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast means lots of Black Spot. It's so frustrating. No it wasn't immune but this rose didn't have near the problems as say the Tahiatian Sunset or the Memorial Day does. I scraplifted the LO from the back of the 2009 Spring/Summer Creative Memories Catalog. I was struck with the LO and decided I would Scrap Lift it. I used all CM Papers. The frame was cut using the CM Wavy Patterns. The chipboard and eyelet is the only items not from CM.
Pope John Paul II Rose was introduced by Jackson Perkins three years ago. One of the most stunning white hybrid teas I've ever seen. The fragrance is delicate. As I thought about presenting this rose I turned to the internet and searched for Pope John Paul II images. You always thinking of the Pope being dressed in white. Yet look again! There are pictures of him in a rich red, too. Then his dress has trims of red, black and/or gold. Perfect! The gold paper I used is my favorite. It's a shimmer gold from Creative Memories. It's discontinued and I'm so disappointed! I love the Archiver's exclusive Brackets 4x4 die. You have a choice of three very different decorative brackets. This was definitely one of my favs from this scrap weekend.
The final LO is of my Ronald Reagan Rose. I love the Ronald Reagan. It's a beautiful bi-color rose. A striking rich red with a hint of white at the base of the petal. Just stunning! This LO came from 2008 52 Sketches...52 Weeks Sketch #47. I found when I used the tab, it really is huge on a 7x7 LO. I had a lot of fun with this LO. The red buttons just made the whole LO. What I don't like and it's not that apparent as it is looking at it. I keep highlighting and I don't like how it ever turns out. I guess I'll just keep trying.All of these LO's were only done with scraps except the black paper for the Pope John Paul II. I really have this thing about having lots of scraps...I go all out to keep them to a minimum. I've not been that good lately, but I've decided to work harder at it. The 7x7 format is the perfect way to use one's scraps!
Keep scrappin'
Kim
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