Morning & Evening

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here is my morning...



....
and then my evening...



everything in between was cold wind.

xoxoxo

Just Me and Cows...

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I don't really understand cows... but i think they understand me.



xoxoox

Dramatic Dances

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Growing up me and my cousins, sister, friends would do the most silly dramatic dances. I even made my barbies do it, if their arm couldn't bend that way, then i'd force it till it broke off. :)
Even in my early 20's living in NYC, our favorite way to entertain each other at home was through various arts (drawing, playing music) - the one burned into memory is our ridiculous modern interpretive dances (depeche mode, leotards, flashlights!).
This is what people did before electricity... they told stories, they played music, they danced and enjoyed the free show. Their body was everything they needed, not the thing they lugged around.
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Here are some dances I did to my new favorite singer.... no way could i do her songs justice since, well... they are not typical dance songs.



xoxoxoxo

Spring Sounds! Chicken Funnies & Frogs!

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It finally warmed up here, a little tricky break from the winter... and it's got everyone going. The chickens are bocking, the rooster is crowing, the frogs in my pond suddenly appeared and started chirping in the middle of the night.

I found a random egg in JuJu's hay that one of the chickens laid, so i picked it up and put it under my old hen Skinny Minny - and she got this look of suprise as though she had laid the egg herself and began to announce it to all...
that's when the noise party got started!

This makes me laugh... makes me happy...



xooxxo

Just Fire

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I made a big bon fire... to burn branches from the hemlock trees that died and have the disease that's killing them. Also a funeral fire to burn my chickens who died this winter.
and a fire to keep me warm while sitting outdoors in the cold wind. Something about a good fire, makes me feel so alive, relaxed and full of love. (I could be mixing this up with my PMS though, aka enhanced dramatic emotions... ask me in a week or so!)



xoxoxo

The Arts Will Save Me (and us all)

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and now for something completely different.
art, nature. have similar effects when you submerge yourself into them. and let go of the outcome.



xoxox

Dancing... Forever Young

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drama. dance. Things to do when ya don't see humans often enough.
(Also, speaking of forever young... i am trying out the strawberry trick for whitening my teeth. I'll tell ya'll if it actually works.)



xoxoxox

Missing New Orleans, singing Iko Iko

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One of my favorite songs from New Orleans is the Dixie Cup's Iko Iko! When I was a kid i thought it was amazing, and little did I know that when i was 19 years old i'd have a job at the New Orleans Saenger Theatre, I would be working with two of the singers from the Dixie Cups (Ms. Barbara and Ms Rose)... man did we have a great time on the job, alot of laughing...
I can't sing worth a poop, and I only had sticks to play... and of course Iko Iko totally needs the back ups singers... plus i left out a whole verse.
But oh my gawd, did it feel good to sit in the sun and sing something really familiar to my heart and my culture.
I miss that culture so much... (sorry mountain people, but, New Orleans does it bettah!)

JuJu the donkey Comes Home For Valentines

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Mission : Get JuJu and bring her ass home!



Thank you SOOOOOOO much Jenn and Ian for helping me get JuJu home in an easy, non violent way! Ya'll are great friends! :)))))

xoxoxox

Anxiety Attack... and so much more

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I have anxiety sometimes. How about you?
(btw- the title of this video says all of what you will see!) :)



xoxoxo

JuJu the donkey, Lost and Found Part 2

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I try again to get JuJu to come home with me.



As you see she doesn't make it all the way. My new suspicion is that she does not like the neighbors dog- which has always been true but it may have been a bit more acute with her hormonal state. Donkey naturally hate canines, particularly coyotes, and are only a bit tolerant of domesticated dogs and sometimes they are not even that - they will kill them.
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So here is my next plan of action::::
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Plan #1 --- go get JuJu without the dog around
Plan #2 --- tie her to the back of my truck and tug her home slowly (but i need help with that one...)
Plan #3 --- hold up a mirror and let her fall in love with her own reflection, and she can follow the mirror home. (thanks for the idea Noel!)


oxoxox

JuJu, Lost and (sort of) Found

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So this morning when i got up all was quiet. Too quiet. No hee haw's coming from outside the cabin and I thought maybe JuJu was really busy digging on some hay, but when i called her and walked all around the property she was no where to be found.
I whistled, i yelled, i started to cry. No donkey.
We had snow last night and locating her tracks was a little confusing at first because the snow had filled them back in some, just enough to make them sketchy to identify while i was in a panic.
Eventually there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....
or a donkey in heat.
And trying to tell a donkey in heat what to do is like trying to direct a tsunami.



xoxoxo

Thrift Score.... and bruiser drives the truck?

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Today, I went(with the neighbors dog) to the thrift store! Then I wanted to go visit my Aunt (who is so awesome) but I got totally lost on the way to her place cause all the street signs were bent ajar, and the numbers on the houses were not consistent.

I stopped to ask directions 3 times on one straight road.

The third time, I was asking some 100 yr old man at a nursing home about using a phone, when i turned around I see my truck was driving away with the dog in reverse, down the nursing home driveway and out into the street, and up on someones lawn- people on the road were slamming on the breaks & slowing down - i was running and screaming, chasing down my truck - luckily before it could hit the person's house, it hit a uphill patch of grass and it forced the truck to slow/stop reversing.

A lil' video of da' adventcha ::::



xoxoxox

DAncing into SAnity!

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I have to dance. There is snow here again, and I would like to become indifferent to the white on the ground and my whitening skin.
Why can't my teeth be white too?





xxoxoxox

Not Easy, but Good

Life is not easy... in some ways in can be a real pain in the ass and makes me feel like a psyco. But there are things that are so beautiful, simple things I can be thankful for like ::::

*good views of a pretty world
*nature
*plants
*the smell of wet leaves
*my animals friends (this one is HUGE!)
*my wood stove is now fixed and isn't catching on fire anymore
*my brakes in my truck are fixed so i can go get groceries for myself again
*the snow was melted for almost a week (or was it a few days) - only a few patches are left
*my water has come on sometimes so i could take baths
*all the humans who are my friends and help me get through my rough and my fun days
*spring is almost here! and the sun DOES exsist (even if not at my cabin.)

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Today I took a nap during the day which is a rare event for me - even if a lay down i never fell asleep. But I did fall asleep and since i started sleeping up in the loft for winter time warmth I have been having completely vivid weird dreams.
In the nap dream my mom was telling me she saw a child that was mine, and i said " i do not have a child". It was very dark out and in the forest, wet, raining & hard to see - my mom was sitting in a white gazebo far away. She said "come see, he is right here, your child" .... i walk to the gazebo in deep fear and curiosity, then realize this is a child not born yet.... so i say "is it a ghost?" and she says "yes". I walk around to the back of the gazebo and there is my boyfriend i had in highshool (teenage BF) sitting in a chair - the ghost child is a boy standing next to him wearing blue (looks like i imagined my child would look like all my life, not like me at all but with blonde hair) - the ghost child is standing in front an empty chair, and is about 7 years old, it has a serious look on it's face. I ask the teenage BF "is that your child next to you" , the teeneage BF puts his hand in the empty chair next to him and says "no my children are not here, this one is yours" . I knew it had not been born, yet.

Then the phone rang in real life. UPS telling me a package is in the mail.

Xoxoxo

WHat You WAiTinG FoR! (Dance Off)

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So my theory is, if i embarass myself enough times, evenutally i will break. And be a free spirit like i always wanted to be. This one is helping bunches.

Go see more at Dance Off!



xoxoxoxo

Milk Paint, Painting (Unicorn!)

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Milk paint! This is my first attempt at doing what i call a "real" painting using only organic milk paints. I wish when I went to school for art we had been taught more about our art supplies and less about outdated techniques & critiques. I never needed the technique lessons (or wasn't interested), but certainly it would have been eye opening to see how toxic paints were made, and learn some alternatives to them.
This milk paint is tricky to use as an artist paint, because of the way it dries and has to be stored, and used within a certain time frame. I happen to paint fast, but anyone who likes to take their time will most likely have to mix the paint each time in small batches... which isn't hard, just add (alot of) SUPER HOT water and stir it up. it is time consuming - but that can be fun too... i mean, the famous artists back in the days of old made all their own shit, they didn't pop over to the mass manfactured art store!
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This painting is done on scrap canvas/tapestry type fabric, using only 100% organic milk paint. The video below shows the process.







Xoxoxox

Throwing ROcks on the Frozen Pond

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My personal search for spring time.
I have been doing this since the pond froze in November. Some of the big rocks I threw slowly sunk in over time (temperature changes), and were swallowed up. None have cracked the ice. I believe when I throw a rock into the center of the pond and it cracks, spring is here.



xxoxox

Sexy? Root Cellaring

Ok, before I get started talking about how cool & sustainable root cellaring is...
and before i admit I haven't even read the whole book....
is it just me or is this the sexiest little sustainable book picture evah (see below)??? It makes root cellaring seem, downright HAwt!
Seriously! Sexy root cellar building man drawing, with lady drawing helper watching on as she leans on the cellar shelf... their posture! OI!
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On the serious side.
This is a neat book, that shows lots of ideas on how to store all your fruits and veggies WITHOUT electricity, aka- no fridge! Aka, post zombie apocalypse. AKA, doesnt matter if the power lines come down in a bad storm. Aka --- I dont Need YOu GrOcerY!
Alot of projects don't require any building, but more of digging and storing things in the ground. Kinda like you are squirrel.
My favorite part that i found in this book is the buried old fridge... no need to plug it in, just bury the thing (after removing a few components) and have the door open at the top like a root cellar treasure chest!!!
(They shoulda put the sexy drawing people in this pic too..... )

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Check out this book, HERE.

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XOxoxox

My Hemlock Tree Nightmare, removed/solved/ended...

The hemlock pine trees in most the USA are dieing, or already are dead from some accidentally imported disease. Hundreds of their corpses loom, and fall to the ground all around the Luck Cabin... but one huge hemlock in particular has been leaning towards the cabin, with a straight shot to smashing it in. HUGE. And so even though i planned to have the big dead thing cut down before the snows came, i ran out of time.
Then it came. The nightmare that the tree came down on the cabin... it was less a dream and more a partially wake vision as I rose out of sleep to sit up out of breath, heart beating fast, choked... i saw & heard clearly the thing come down through the roof in my minds eye and knew it had to be cut ASAP when someone could get up this frozen mountain.
It's no easy task to take down a tree like this with snow and ice still on the ground.......
me and the animals made a good audience ( ft. Lady Grey the chicken, the neighbors dog, JuJu the donkey!).
(watch the video for the slow drama of felling a giant hemlock. It's kinda cool and scary.)



I counted the rings to see the age... i counted the lines (not the space in between) and there was 87 rings on this big guy! almost 100 years old.

Xoxoxoxo