Week 8 & Week 9

Week 9 - Finale
Listened to several good knitting podcasts--that was fun! Earlier on in LATI we did quite a bit of video and downloadable audio activities. I'm sure it suits some people, but I prefer curling up in a cozy chair with a real live book in my hands. Now to summarize: Twenty-three Things has been fun, frustrating and enlightening all at the same time. Up to this point, computers--outside of work and email usage have not figured prominently in my life. I am happy to say I'm slowly becoming less gunshy and have enjoyed the learning. To me, it seems a bit like fishing in unknown waters. You cast your hook out there and can never predict accurately what you'll reel in--a bottom feeder? a bony little sunny? a georgeous bass? There is a bit of a thrill associated with that unknown. Being basically unknowledgeable in computer lingo, I found that without the help of my patient co-worker Linda, I would have been left behind in the dust. Her help was invaluable. But now I'm "hooked," and look forward to continuing the journey.


Week 8
Enjoyed this week's work. Zoho is a good thing. To be able to sit down at any computer, no matter where I am, and have my document-in-progress there right before me is great--very practical. The Web 2.0 awards were interesting. My favorites were music and health.

Week 6 & Week 7

Week 6
Read about tagging, checked out Technorati and read the different thoughts regarding libraries in the future. Very interesting--but it all sounds so very middle class. How can we reach the economically disadvantaged and help them realize all the resources available from the library that could help them better themselves?

Week 7
Really enjoyed the Bull Run wiki and the Book Lovers wiki. Such potential for libraries and communities--interested in watching this area grow.

Yesterday I took a walk. Actually, I walk nearly every day.
After waking at 5:30am and doing my carrot juice thing, I gather up the dogs or they gather me up and we head out for the cinder path at the Mount. I wish I could take the goats with me—I think they would be wonderful walkers, they certainly have the legs for it. I’m just hesitant because I believe they would want to stop at every green thing along the way and try to eat it—there is a lot of green there. Corn, trees, scrub, bushes, much honeysuckle and other growing things that would be great delicacy to a goat, so, for now, they will have to stay home.
As soon as we get out of the car, the dogs bolt off in one of many directions—often both heading in different directions. Sometimes I don’t see them until I’m halfway finished and on my way back, but we usually always meet up sooner or later. I love them. They have taught me many important things. They have taught me much about loyalty and the importance of silence. They have taught me patience. Animals can teach us so many things—if only we will slow down and watch them long enough. My goats are funny. I love them too. They are still young so they don’t know much about patience—they cannot eat or walk or run or explore fast enough—they are definitely not patient. They don’t know much about silence either—very noisy creatures—always making comments about every little thing that happens—too much like me I fear. They are wonderfully curious and I hope time never takes that away from them. They are very affectionate as well. Nuzzling, sniffing and snuffing me when I sit with them, they don’t seem to tire of checking me out—do I smell different each and every day? I don’t think so, I think they are just reaffirming that it really is me, no matter what I may happen to be wearing.

Yes, this is me--and I don't mean the person doing the helping.

Week 5 - Just finished checking out all the new things for this week. I'm looking around for a good photo to turn into a sketch for the online image generator--no busy backgrounds--it needs to be quite simple. The more it looks like a sketch to begin with the better it will turn out.
Library Thing was kind of neat--did that.
Looked around at Rollyo--don't think I will have a need for that.

checking out the Library Thing

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/cwintermyer

I'm not a techy person, however, the following technology really does interest me.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY
This field encompasses an ever evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning products. Several examples of green technology include:
1. Energy - The development of alternative fuels and new means of generating energy.
2. Green Building - This includes the choice of building materials, to where a building is located.
3. Green Chemistry - The invention, design and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous substances.
4. Green Nanotechnology - Nanotechnology is the manipulation of materials at the scale of a nanometer, which is one billionth of a meter. Some scientists believe that mastery of this subject is forthcoming that will change the way that everything in the world is manufactured. Green Nanotechnology is the application of green chemistry and green engineering principles to this field.

Little by little...

This very busy week was spent getting to know Doris and Skippy better. I have never kept goats before and I was unprepared for how very affectionate they both are. They will stand at the gate and "Naaaaaa" for me to come out and pet them and sit with them and when I leave ten to twenty minutes later they "Naaaaaa" again, until they become distracted with something else, such as climbing around on the downed trees and rocks in their large enclosure or browsing. These two goats seem to ALWAYS be browsing and foraging or else chewing their cud. They have four stomachs and are milk producers, as are cows. But more on the health and beauty benefits of goat milk in an upcoming entry.

These past two weeks my husband made great progress on the little 7 1/2' x 8 1/2' goat barn. Him and my big strong son, Colin, rented a post hole digger to dig four holes for the barn, plus an additional hole for the door. Into those holes they placed four locust tree posts, approximately four inches in circumference, that they had cut from the woods surrounding our home. One 4 x 4 post was used for the door. Larry cut 2 1/2' x 3' holes for the two windows--one on the east wall of the barn, and one on the west. We are very fortunate to have a used building supply store not too far from us, so whatever we can glean from there we take full adventage of. They charge practically nothing and as an added benefit these perfectly good building materials are "recycled" and kept out of our community landfill. Truly a win/win situation for all. At this Saturday afternoon writing, Larry is finishing framing the two windows and the four corners.
Next weeks project will entail digging swails to divert the rainwater as we are on a mountain, and when it rains hard water runs like rivers off this mountain--we do NOT want a river running through the barn!

The beginning...

Flowers, candy, nice card--all lovely Mother's Day gifts, however, this year my oldest son and daughter decided to get me what I've always always wanted--a GOAT! And of course, you cannot own just one goat, so I bought another little wethered male. Doris is a registered three month old Oberhasli and Skippy is a little two month old Nubian. I absolutely LOVE them, they are so sweet--and I am learning so much. They each have their own distinct personality. Doris is very graceful and ladylike, Skippy, on the other hand, is a little rascal. The minute I enter their pen, he runs up to me and gently butts me until I sit down and scratch his ears and rub his back. That is Skippy jumping up and over the large rocks. The lower picture shows Doris in the background and Skippy in the foreground browsing on the scrub bushes in their pen. Our land is a good spot for goats--the pen encompasses a portion of old rock wall that was used over a hundred years ago to contain sheep. The browse is spicebush, brambles, raspberry, honeysuckle--Doris and Skippy are happy as two peas in a pod.
In the next chapter I'll ramble on about how we converted a 80 x 80 foot area on the mountain into a goat pen, complete with a little barn--which my husband calls a "shed"--although I think that sounds undignified.