Curious Critter

Raise your glass...of milk!

2011-06-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's officially June Dairy Month! Raise your glass of milk to honor all of the people that work to producing all of the wholesome dairy products that are available; especially the farm families that put in countless hours around the clock! The dairy products that you consume (milk, yogurt, and cheese) are packed with 9 essential vitamins and minerals that are nessesary for a healthy lifestyle. Plus they taste amazing.

In honor of the dairy industry I'm going to write a postor several different dairy products and post one each weekend for the rest of the month.

Since June Dairy Month is nationaly reconized there are dairy related events happening all over the country! In my local area, we have events like Breakfast on the Farm, where you can go eat breakfast and tour a farm; or you can go to the surrounding bussinesses at certain times and free ice cream will be served, usually by the county's Dairy Princesses! Here is a link with events posted for the midwest.

Quick Diary Trivia: All 50 U.S states have dairy farms, even Hawaii and Alaska!

One last thing before you go, a picture!

Cons of not being persistent

2011-04-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

There are many, many cons to being a bad blogger. The biggest one that I am having to face is being afraid of putting my blog url on the business cards that I want to order. I would love to be able to start promoting it but I know that I am definitely jumping the gun. How can you promote something that hardly exists...maybe telling people about my blog will push me to actually post once in a while because I wouldn't want to embarrass myself to people that I respect. That might sadly be the motivation I need right now.

Urban Farming

2011-02-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

I have heard a lot of disscussions regarding, whether or not this 'green movement' is real or just a fad. I'm hoping that this is the real deal; it's partially selfish, I love that I'm not getting as many are you crazy looks when I mention that I would love to have backyard chickens--my mom also seems less and less apalled when I mention getting chickens! But, I don't care if you are a tree hugging liberal, an ultra conservative, or somewhere in the middle; we can all appericiate some aspect of wanting to raise your own food, energy or whatever.

Sorry, lost focus...oh yeah. Now that, this green and sustainable movement is getting so big, there are some really awesome resources! One in particular that I have come to adore is the Urban Farm--Sustainable City Living Magazine. It's a bi-monthly magazine that talks about issues related to urban farms--some even milk goats or raise pigs, in big cities!! This magazine has wonderful articles about chickens, beer-making, gardening, renewable energy, and a whole lot more!

I've been wanting to join this band wagon for a while and I have big plans. There are just so many things that I want to do. I'll upload posts about my progress over the next year about these different projects!

New Classes

2011-01-11T12:25:00.000-08:00

I pretty excited to start another semester--I was starting to get cabin fever! But I have a nice credit load; just the perfect amount. My classes this semester are just your average classes--math, chem, history, phed, and then a stress management class. I've met all of my professors with the exception of one and I think that this will be a very good semester!

Fall Semester 2010--Completed

2010-12-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

I feel so bad sometimes about my blog. At times I do really well at keeping up with postings and then there are other times and I can't seem to get anything done. I recently had a 'couldn't get anything done' phases and now have to play catch up....so I am going to spend to next week or two doing that before next semester starts. The woes of a college student; I'll be able to keep up with my blog one of these semesters, I just hope it's this next one and not later!

Roaming the Rumen--Dairy Conference

2010-10-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

At the National 4-H Dairy Conference I got the chance to go to a session about the rumen--on of the four compartment of the stomach--similar to the Gopher Dairy camp session I've posted a while back. But at this particular session I got to put my arm in! I know to some people, that's gross (like my mom).

As my group approached the two cows--one was eating and had a full rumen while the other hadn't eaten the previous couple hours--each of us grabbed a full length arm glove. We put on our super sexy gloves, as the professor demonstrated how we should go about doing everything.

The professor demonstrated how large the rumen in by putting a broomstick in the rumen. He gently pushed it through the digesting food until it came to the front end of rumen. At this point most of the broomstick had disappeared. He then did the same this to show the depth of the rumen, which hid half of the broomstick. That means the rumen alone, is almost a broomstick in length and half a broomstick in depth. Meaning the rumen could fit a toddler into it!

Finally it was my turn to feeling around the rumen. As I walked forward I could smell the stomach. It takes a while to get used too. As I breathed in I felt like the inside of my nose was burning.

It was pretty amazing. It took me a minute to get my arm in far enough to be able to feel around. Once I got my arm in though, it felt so great! It's very warm and as the stomach contracts the food in the rumen pushes against your arm--it feels like you arms in getting a warm, wet hug....that's the best comparison I can think of!

This seems stupid and pointless but it's very useful to gaining knowledge about cattle so in the future we can take better care of them! The University of Wisconsin--Madison has an agricultural and veterinary college so many of the student go and learn a lot from these two girls--which are very well cared for by staff and students! It isn't a painful procedure and doesn't affect their life--again just like wearing earrings.

Here is a picture of me:

Since the whole cow isn't in the picture some people have said it appears as if my arm is in the butt of the cow. It's not; the cannula is placed right behind the ribcage.

Farrier Science Class

2010-09-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

One of my classes this semester is Farrier Science. For anyone who doesn't know, a farrier is someone who trims and shoes horses. My class is going to be a basic farrier class. Over the course of the semester my professor is going to cover anatomy of a horse's leg and foot, tool, lameness and causes, among other things! One of the things I'm looking forward to is making a horseshoe in a forge!!

Before all of the we first talked about the purpose of a farrier, which included:

helping horses move correctly
correcting some lameness's but not diagnosing--that should be left to a veterinarian
helping with posture
knowing when or when not to shoe a horse
and fostering hoof growth

My professor explained where the word farrier originated. He explained that on the periodic table of elements the symbol for iron is FE for ferrarius--the Latin word meaning iron. Then there is the word faber meaning craftsman. So faber ferrarius would translate into English as blacksmith. Faber ferrarius became shortened to ferrarius, at some point it dropped the ius and the spelling changed to become today's farrier. I thought that was an interesting bit!

We also watched a clip from Doug Butler that was really interesting. Butler put together the bones from a deceased horses legs and used strips of leather--that were shaped to look like ligaments--to show how the ligaments create a rigidity in the horses leg. I thought it was very cool even it he was a bit monotone!

We also discussed tools and anatomy but those are for another post!

I'm now a milking hand!

2010-08-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

After interviewing for the milking position, I felt really great. The interview seemed to go well but I didn't really have any previous interviews to compare it to; so I wasn't very sure. I was most nervous about the farmer saying he would call even if I didn't get the position. The one time I count on people not being polite--although I would have been upset if he hadn't called at all. I was hoping that I would be able to look at the phone and determine whether or not I got the position. Getting call = got job. No call = no job.

So when i got the call i got super excited and then remembered what he had said and that brought me down a little bit. So, I answer ed the phone hesitantly. When I heard that I had received the job. I was jumping up and down; so happy.

As soon as I told my mom, she reminded me of something that I've had wanted to do for a while but forgotten about. Mom said 'now you can go for Goodhue County dairy princess!' It was another opportunity that would be possible with this milking job.

So, I have several things to look forward to; getting experience with cows, knowledge of milking, and maybe becoming a Dairy Princess! This job will just be full of awesomeness. =)

Interview! Yay!

2010-08-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at the local paper to try to find a decent job--aka anything besides fast food--but nobody (big surprise) has been hiring. In the last couple weeks there has been a few more Help Wanted ads but not much.

So, I've been glancing at the ads hoping that there will be someplace else besides McDonalds to work. This week I was lucky; I saw an ad for a milking parlor position! I thought that would be pretty awesome. I found out who the farmers were and learned that he's a pretty good guy to work for, so I went for it and called him!

Then yesterday, I went out to the dairy farm to talk to the farmers and filled out an application. It seemed to go pretty well. I found out that it would be mornings and evenings on the weekends! As a teenagers I should be disappointed but I'm not! Even if I don't get it I think it will be a good experience.

I got accepted!!

2010-08-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

As 1 of 20 Minnesotan 4-Hers to go to the National 4-H Dairy Conference in Madison! I can't wait to find out what we are going to do! I'm hope I will have time to take a campus tour of the University of Wisconsin--it's where most of the conference takes place. Mom wants me to take a tour while I have a chance...just in case I decide that I want to apply.

I'm planning on posting about the different sessions so I hope you come back to read about it! Learn all sorts of stuff about dairy!

Guest Lecturer--Dr. Tyrone Hayes

2010-04-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am so excited. I just found out the Dr. Tyrone Hayes is going to be lecturing "Silent Spring to Silent Night: A Tale of Toads and Men" at my school!! I've seen him talk on a couple of documentaries on tv.

Last time he was in the area was a few years ago. My had said that she was going to listen to some professor talk about atrazine and it's effects on the environment for work--she write for the loacal paper. Mom asked if I wanted to go along but I said no, not even considering who might be the speaker. So mom went without.

When Mom got back home, she started describing the speaker and what he talked about. That's when it dawned on me that it was Tyrone Hayes. I was so disappointed. Even then at 14--or something like that--I knew that I had missed out on a great opportunity.

I'm got a 2nd chance; my professor posted some information about a lecture at the end of April. The first thing I noticed is that it was the same time as my Spanish class. So I already knew that I probably would not be able to go but I kept scanning the words out of curiosity. Then I saw 'Tyrone' and 'Atrazine' I just about jumped out of my seat in the computer lab!!

I had a hard time paying attention the rest of the day because of my excitement. I told my mom right away about Tyrone Hayes. She asked me "is it public? I want to bring your brothers!" I found out that it is--so my mom is bringing my brothers as a homeschool excursion. I am going to ask my professor if it's alright that I miss class that day; I hope that it's not a really important lecture!

Vision Boards

2010-03-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

My mom and I went over to a friends house to talk. While we were over there she started working on a vision board. She explained that you make a vision board out of images that remind you of your ambitions and goals and put them together. You than put the vision board someplace were you will see it every day--your bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, office, where ever. Then when you see this will you be reminded of your goals. Being reminded of your goals will hopefully help you make better decisions over the course of the day that will help you makes your goals/dreams come true.

One of my vision board was about gardening!

American Bear Association

2010-03-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

My family recently went to the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Minnesota. I liked my mom posting for this trip so I'm just going to post the link here. I will also leave you with a picture!

Beach

2010-03-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

I didn't go to school this summer so I decided to show you what I've been doing. My mom really like going to the Minnesota State Parks and going camping, hiking, etc. She likes to drag me and my brothers with her on her ventures! One place we went to this year was the Red Lake State Recreation Area. It was definitley worth the trip from southern Minnesota!
So, here are two pictures.

The Boy Named Lucy

2010-03-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Around Halloween, mom, Bentley and I went for a walk. It was a pretty normal walk until four blocks down we heard a noise. I kept walking with Bentley because I didn't want him playing with some unknown creature. Mom turned around because she thought it sounded like a cat. I turned around but couldn't tell what it was because it was dark out and the creature was black. I was slightly worried about it being a baby raccoon. But mom confirmed that it was an itty bitty kitty when it tried climbing up her leg and meowing very loudly.

Mom and I went back and forth on what to do with the kitten. As we were talking the kitten walked up to Bentley--the kitten was the size of Bentley's paw! I was surprised that the kitten wasn't afraid of Bentley. So we brought the kitten home. Bentley seem trilled to have new friend but Kitty (our other cat, wasn't) hissed at the kitten.

We didn't want another cat, so we kept contacting people to see if they wanted a kitten. A friend of the family said that she would take the kitten if we couldn't find a home because she didn't want her to go to a shelter. Random note: Black cats are more likely to be put down than other cats. Finally after three days or so, Mom decides to call back the friend, to tell her that nobody wanted the kitten. Only hours earlier my brothers' and I decided to call her Lucy.

It was hard not to get attached after playing with the little furball.

Several weeks later I noticed that 'things' at Lucy's rear end didn't look...girly. Then I had a friend who--she knows a lot about animals--had taken her cat to the vet to get neutered and went home with a spayed cat. So I took another look at Lucy and realized that Lucy is in fact, a boy. I've been told that kittens are hard to sex and I've made sure to tell friends that. Must sound silly when someone who wants to be a veterinarian tells you that they couldn't sex their kitten.

Someone asked me if we were going to change Lucy's name. No, we're not. That's the name that Lucy listens for and he doesn't doesn't know that it's a girls name. So what's it hurting. :)
Lucy's grown quite a bit since we've brought 'her' (after calling Lucy 'her' for so long it's hard to remember to say 'he' or 'him') home last fall. Kitty also seems happy now that Lucy is around and she's a lot more active having another cat to play with; instead of being chased by a 112 pound dog!

Training for Farm Babies

2010-03-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today was so nice! It was a perfect day for my Minnesota Zoo training. The training was for Farm Babies; an annual event through the month of April. There will be all sorts of baby animals at the farm; piglets, calves, chicks, kids (the goat kind!), lambs, and ducklings. There will also be baby bunnies but they will be at the main zoo.

There are already some babies! The first animal born was an Ayrshire calf named Shrek--for those who know the zoo animals the mother was Fiona. There was also a Red & White Holstein born today! Her name is Lola. Lola was due on the 26th, so that was a pleasant surprise. There are 4 more calves due.

A new Guernsey is due 4/1
An Ayrshire calf is due 4/2
A Black & White Holstein is due 4/3
The Charlotte--who I think is a Brown Swiss--is due 6/26

Four litters of pigs are expected, One at the end of the month. Two in April and then another in May. There are also several litters of Pygmy and Dairy goats due. Along with three ewes. It will be fun to see the babies!

Comics for Credits

2010-01-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

To graduate from RCTC, I have to take two English classes. This semester I am working on the second one. It's part of a newer set of classes called MyStyle or something. They are geared toward trendy or specific types of subjects. So, to set my English class apart from the rest RCTC offers we are reading graphic novels!

I was so intrigued by the idea of taking a class with graphic novels. I started the class thinking that it would stories like Superman and Batman--classic comics--but I was wrong. A couple of the graphic novels were very serious; like Palestine. That was a really intense book. Another was part of series by Neil Gailman--he also wrote Coraline--it was titled At Worlds' End. It was slightly confusing at times; while still being an excellent story!!

One thing I really love about going to a college is that you get the chance to really expend your horizens and try new stuff!!

Winter break is almost over, already....

2010-01-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that my winter break is almost over. It's Friday and school starts Monday! I want to get back into a schedule. I'm am glad though that I don't have to worry about money right now for school because I am a PSEO student. PSEO--Post Secondary Enrollment Options allows High School Juniors' and Seniors'--like me!--to take college courses instead of the typical High School courses. That means that my tuition at RCTC is paid for with state taxes! That's two year's worth of college payed for! It's a cool program and surprisingly there aren't as many High School students as you would think.

My schedule this is going to be a little more hectic than the last. Since I live 45-50 minutes from school my counselor made last semester's simple. I went to classes four days a week for three or four hours then would come home. This semester I scheduled all my classes around one class--which was in the evening--that I had to take. I was so happy, I only had to drive to school three days a week! Then I found out that the one particular class that I scheduled around was canceled. I freaked a little. But luckily I found one other time that the class was offered. Only problem was that it was a nine o'clock morning class! It also makes it so I have to go back down a forth day, which really doesn't bother me too much. What bothers me are the long days. Like on Tuesdays I have that class at nine in the morning and then I have an evening class from 5-8:40! Now that is going to be a very long day.

I am pretty happy with the classes I do have. I have:

>English--our reading material are graphic novels!
>Spanish--continues from my Spanish class from last semester.
>American Cinema--that one sounds fascinating!
>CPR/First Aid
and
>Sociology

It really doesn't look like a lot but it's over full time.

I only have a text book for Spanish and Sociology. I'm so HAPPY!! The rest look like really good books! For English, one of my books is Maus and it looked so good that I already read the first book! Talking about school is slowly starting to get me excited again!

Almost everything outside is white!

2010-01-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

Collin, Kyle and I went to go out into the snow. It was great because the snow was perfect and it wasn't too cold out. We did different things. There was nothing to complain about! Well here are a couple winter pictures.

Look at me--an angel--making a snowangel ;)

Kyle running around like a buffoon, nothing unusual here :D

Collin taking a breather in the snow--which acted like a cozy recliner!

Even Kitty whined until she could come out into the snow for a while, too.

First Semester is over

2009-12-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

I'm having a hard time believing that I'm done with my first semester of college! My last day of class was on thursday--the day after my birthday. I feel awesome! Close to the very end I was kind of hoping for it to stop. I really liked most of my classes and professors but I really wanted a few weeks off!

Theses were my text books over the semester

4-H Holiday Barn Dance

2009-12-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my brothers--the one on the right and left--with their friend in the middle.

School!

2009-09-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

It has officially started! It is my third week into school at RCTC. Right now I am at the school's computer lab. I don't have to much time to write anything decent.....not that I can really think of anything anyways! ;] I'll tell you what classes I have though! English, Spanish, Psychology, Self Defense, and Biology!

Well I have an essay to go finish!

Studying like crazy!

2009-08-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

Again I feel bad. I'm such a bad blogger! I have been getting ready for the fair and studying for a test. The reason I'm even doing this post is because I am procrastinating. Should be studying instead of being online.

Dairy Camp Day III

2009-06-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

The last day of the camp we looked at the more gross stuff...so if you have a very low tolerance of slight icky stuff you might want to skip this post. We started the morning with the head of the Animal Science Department. He talked about what, when, and how you would feed your calf through different stages of growing. When a calf is born you would immediately take the calf and put him/her into a hutch and feed him/her some colostrum--the mothers first milk. Colostrum is very important to the development of your calf because calves are born without immune systems. They get their first antibodies from the mother's colostrum.

After calf health we moved down the hall to talk about the stomach of a ruminant. Note I said stomach not stomachs. Ruminants have one stomach and four 'compartments'. The compartments work together to digest the food. The first three parts are the rumen, the reticulum, and the omasum. The abomasum is the fourth and is closest to our stomachs. In the rumen and reticulum the food mixes with the saliva. The liquid, solids, and gas make three layers. They demonstrated this be taking a large clear jug and filling it halfway with water. Then adding a large handful of hay. The jug was shaken so everything was mixed. The jug was set on the table and we waited. The water stayed at the bottom, the solid stuck together on top of the water and the gas went to the top. The solid clumps become the cud and is regurgitated.

Hardware disease was discussed also. I do mean hardware like bolts, nails, wire, and other objects like that. To help prevent these objects from poking holes and ripping the inside of the cow, magnets are placed in the cow.

The picture above shows one of the instructors holding up a preserved cow stomach. It shows all four compartments. They filled up the stomach with air and after it dried they covered it with something so it would keep it's shape. In the white pan to the right of the stomach are pieces of the inside of each stomach compartment. It was really cool because the inside of each stomach is different! One looked like green pepper seeds clumped together!

The last part I went too, we looked at the U's bull. The yellowish-tan thing on the bull's side is called a cannula. Where the man's hand is there is a hole that is normally plugged. The hole goes to the rumen. It was kind of gross but interesting at the same time! He pulled out a handful of the digesting food for us to see. In the bottom picture you can see the inside of the hole a bit better.

The reason for this is for research mostly. The U can control everything the the bull eats more easily. If he is being a picky eater the plug can be taken out and the food placed in to be digested. Here is a wiki link. I came away with a lot more knowledge on dairy cows and had fun at the same time! I would really enjoy going again next year. Maybe one of my brothers--I think he will be old enough next year--will go with me!

Dairy Camp Day II

2009-06-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Social networking is not the thing I anyone really thinks of when thinking about cows--at least not me! That's what we talked about on the second morning! How website's like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and blogs can affect the way people think about dairy. Some may post inaccurate info, giving a negative image. We were told how we could help change that.

The person giving the presentation was from Midwest Dairy. She explained that just going on Google and clicking on a few like Explore Dairy, and the U's Dairy Extension will be put higher on the Google page so it will be one of the first links people see. Also on Facebook you can become fans of things--like movie star, candy, or really anything else you fancy--and whoever you'r friends with will see. Then your friends might decide to "become a fan" and it continues through to all of their friends. It' s a nice, easy, positive chain reaction.

Workshop II. Before being able to work with our heifers we learned how to fit them. Fitting--is where you cut their fur and make them look as nice as possible. Just like you would do for yourself before going someplace really special. I was amazed that the man who showed our group how to fit traveled the world to give cows hair cuts! After wards my partner, Julia, and I got CC so we could start fitting.
We started by taking a blow dryer along her top line--the hair along the spine--and trimming it so it was as flat as we could get it....which wasn't very much since neither me nor Julia had done the top line before. Julia cut most of the fur on CC's right side and on the top of her head. I did the left side, the bottom of the legs, and the tail. It was fun but when it's over you start moving around and there is tons of cow hair everywhere! It was in my shirt, my arms looked so gross. At least I wasn't the only one!

There I am with CC. Not the best pic of me but probably the only one that really turned out well at all.

Showing was so much fun. I haven't done anything like it before. Maybe I can find someone in the area that would let me show their cows.....I would like to show for 4-H if I could. I'm not sure what else to say about this. I followed what the other kids were doing since I didn't really know what to do.

Last Workshop of the Day. Princess Kay of the Milky Way came to talk to us in the evening. She kind of talked about the same thing we listened to in the morning. About spreading the facts about dairy, dairy farming, and dairy farmer. It was hard to focus on this last workshop that day because we were about to go to a waterpark!

Dairy Camp Day I

2009-06-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I went to a Pre-Vet camp in Plattesville, Wi and this year I wanted to go to the U's (U of Mn) Gopher Dairy Camp. Three days and two nights all about Dairy Cows! After mom dropped me at at Bailey Hall--I was so excited to stay in a dorm--all the kids split into groups and met with their counslers. I was in the red and white holsteins (pictured below).

For our first workshop we watched a showing demonstration. Afterwards everyone picked a heifer (a virgin female cow) to work with. I picked one of the few red and whites. Here is one I was with--isn't she adorable!

We rotated to two other sessions before dinner-- Sire Selections and Ag Olympics. In Sire (the father of the calf) Selection we listened to a presentation on how to pick the best bull for breeding. What charactoristics you want like Or what you don't want like super short teats because you need them to be able to fit into the milker.

Ag Olympics was fun because we played some different games!

During that afternoon we were able to earn Moo-ney depending on our participation and other factors. In the evening we combined our Moo-ney with our room mates to buy a heifer from the earlier workshop. My room mate--Julia--and I planned on getting the red and white that she had worked with. 439 was near the end of the list to be auction. So we waited and waited. Finally when she came, someone else (who must have borrowed some Moo-ney from a friend) got her. :( We got one of the last heifers. She was a Holstein (like the one below). Mostly black but her feet and tail were white with black speckles that reminded me of cookies and cream ice cream.

Julia and I named her Cookies and cream--though I just called her CC. It was so funny half way through the auction there was a break and during the break people repeated a butter related tongue twister. These people were critiqued by Idol judges "Simon", "Randy", "Paula", and "Kara". Towards the end of the auction there was also Jeopardy music.

The "Banker" above.

One of the last set of partners got to participate in a version of Deal or No Deal--making everyone have a good long laugh!

Snoopy statue in the entryway of the student life center.

Game night included going to the student life center--next door to Bailey Hall--to bowl, play spoon, pool, or just hang out. I really like the St. Paul campus! If I go to school at the U (it's most likely the one I will go to) I would like to live at that campus. Maybe even stay at Bailey....even though the rooms were kind of small--even for dorms!!

Here's a video tour of the hall. The bathroom they show is next to the room I was in. Not that anyone will care. :D

Barn Dance!

2009-05-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

RideAbility had it's annual Barn Dance. It was fun although this year I didn't help a lot this year. I sidewalked (walked next to the person riding the horse) for a short while. I took a few pictures of wagons. We had three wagons going for a while. One which was pulled by the RideAbility Fjords DeeDee and Merit, the second pulled by horses whom I don't know, the third was a hay wagon pulled by a tractor. Here a few pics!

Above: Dad standing next to DeeDee.
Below: The Fjords hooked up to the wagon
DeeDee on the left and Merit on the right.
(Merit is my baby girl!!)
During the last few wagon rides Randy Krahling gave a demonstration on natural horsemanship. I the photo below Randy is showing how he gets a horse to move without physically touching his horse!
At the Barn Dance was CrossFire but we left right after they started. A long but very fun day!

The next fundraiser is *drum roll* the Ride-a-Thon in July!

Summer Plans

2009-05-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Mom and I have been putting together a list of things that we are/wanting to do. Hopefully having so many new things to write about will help inspire me to finish more post!

Kitty goes to the Doctor

2009-05-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

Our kitty who is called Kitty has been having some boy problems... We let Kitty go outside on a leash (we don't have a fence and live in town) when she wants with the exception of when it is raining and the few times she has been in heat.

There is a new boy cat in the area not that has not been fixed.

He came over and messed with Kitty. I heard her make a horrible sounding noise. I went out a made Scruffy (the neighbor kids name all the stray cats) go.

We decided that the cat would not go out for a while unless someone sat with her. But apparently my brothers weren't
listening to well because a few days later I heard a meow from outside. I opened the door and
there was the cat sitting under the doorway. She wasn't soaked but she was pretty wet! Scruffy must have come by again that time because she had a cut that went across her nose.

Mom brought her to the vet a few days later to get spayed. When we went to pick her up she was so pathetic. We used a basket with a blanket in the bottom because we do not have a pet carrier. Since she's come back from the vet she has been in our laps a lot more then usual and has been purring nonstop!

Pheasants Forever

2009-05-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

One of the projects my brothers and I are in for 4-H is Shooting Sports and Wildlife. The last several meeting we have been working on the wildlife part. Our group is talking about prairie restoration and food plots. To make the project stand out our group is focusing on the controlled burns aspect. At the last meeting the guest speaker was a man from Pheasants Forever. Pheasants Forever is a group that burns local field for native plant restoration. In this program fire=helpful or good. They know to burn because the natives burned the prairie. The Native Americans burned the prairie to attract the buffalo. Today we burn to kill the invasive plants and helps the native seeds that have gone dormant.

Dad, Collin, Kyle and I went out to get a before soil sample and take pictures. We wait for everyone with Pheasants Forever to arrive but by the time they all arrive it was too windy to burn. Normally they aren't too worried about the wind but this was along highway 52. They didn't want to blind drivers---that would be a bad thing right? So we went home.

The next day Collin, Kyle, and I were not feeling well so dad went by himself to get the pictures. He got some pretty neat ones!
The fields get burned about every 3 to 5 years! For the group project my brothers, dad, and I are supposed to take photos of the field every week. So we can see the grow progress.

They burned a total of 20 acres. There was so much burning that mom, a friend, Collin, Kyle, and I could see the glow about 6 miles away! It was pretty amazing!

An Hour of Darkness

2009-03-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

This our second year of turning out our lights for Earth Hour. A lot of the focus for Earth Hour is helping with the prevention of global warming. While I think that is good--I like how it makes you think about all the things you can do without your lights on. The less your lights and other electronics you aren't using are on, the less you are paying for your electric bill, so there's that too. It's so much fun to play hide and seek or tag in the moonlight.(Advise though don't play tag if you have a lot of things that can trip you. )

I read about someone who had their kids turn on Every device they had to counteract the efforts of other people. I thought that was rather ridiculous. If you don't agree that's alright but going out of your way to make people mad I thought was weird. They are teaching their kids intolerance but whatever. Plus if you don't believe in global warming what are you counteracting? Them being able to see the stars? Them getting into the habit off turning off lights to save money?

I know this can be a very controversial issue. If you have any thoughts feel free to post them!

--Alex

Last day of practice

2009-03-25T16:35:00.001-07:00

My brothers and my theater class had it's last day--though we still have our rehearsal and the play. It was a lot of fun but I am petrified of the idea of people seeing me on stage. I'm hoping everything will go well.......There is also going to be an art show for those that are in art.

Lets hope everything goes alright!

2009 NARHA Region 6 Conference Brainerd, Minn

2009-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

A few people from RideAbility drove up to Brainerd, Minn---which is only a four hour drive away and not nearly as long as the ride to Fargo last year---for the NARHA Conference. Narha works with different centers to provide equine assisted activities for people with disabilities. RideAbility is accredited through Narha.

This year they didn't have a lot of variety in their class sessions. I loved the '08 conference in Fargo. There were awesome sessions and a fabulous speaker if only I could remember his name......Micheal Richardson.....I think. I will have to double check that.

This year's conference was hosted at The Lodge and the Spirit Horse Center. The Lodge is a new hotel in Brainerd--very nice if your willing to pay that much. They have an indoor mini waterpark. The Spirit Horse Center is wonderfull! They house the Mounted Eagles Therapeutic riding program there. Upstairs at the Spirit Horse Center there is a dancing studio.

The first session had Connecting with the Horse Spirit--Part I, How Does It Feel?, Stable Contract. I later went to the Connecting with the Horse Spirit. I already knew the common sense stuff she talked about and the other part was spiritual maybe too much for me.

The second session I sat listening to a special ed teacher talk about the 10 senses which are: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch, Balance, Temperature, Pain, Internal Sense (like breathing, ect), and Kinesthetic-Proprioception (which is knowing where things are. Like if someone's hand is behind their head they should know where it is without having to see it). Parks also talked about some of her expiriences with people with different disabilities. Then she meantioned a few more and the different symptoms. Right before the session was up she had us do a few activities so we could know what it what like. This was my favorite session.

Jim was doing one of the Kinesthetic-Proprioception activities. Too bad this was done
inside because if it as outside I could tell people he was busted by the police! :D

Then came the best session! Lunch! It was really good, food wise but the Region decided to bombard us with the Region 6 meeting. Ugh! It was too much, we all needed a break to relax and not focus on anything. Most of our group left after they were done eating. I got up for twenty minutes at a not so interesting part. When I got back she was saying the exact same thing.

Session 3 Christina and I were not interested in the lesson planning so we went for a walk and looked a few stores. It was so nice to get out and move around. It seemed like we were out for an hour when Christina said it was only 20 or 30 minutes.

Afterwards we went to the Spirit Horse Center we toured their facility. There indoor area is 70-by-160 ft! It is also a heated barn for Minesota's winters!! They do lessons for adults, kids, and then the Mounted Eagles program. Later that night was the Dinner and Dancing at the barn. The dinner was yummy and the instructors from the dancing center showed everybody the swing and the rumba. It amazes me that anyone can dance that well.

The next morning there were some parents from the Mounted Eagles answering questions. It was nice to hear what they like the most, the benifets for their child/children and some other things.

This years conference was more of a fun trip then a learning one but that's alright. I don't plan on going next year unless they have things that I have never learned about or is something more advanced.

Visitors!

2009-03-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

Wow yesterday I had my first visitors!! First ones I know of. They were from: San Fransisco, Edinburgh, London, a few more were from the UK, one from Melbourne, and Gainesville, FL. I wonder what they think when they read any of my postings and if they are even interesting to them at all. I love looking at other people's blogs--you can learn a lot about so many things!

I hope to eventually try to focus on certain things (so if you are interested in anything particular let me know!) so people won't have to guess what might be in the next posting.

-Alex

Horse Article

2009-03-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

I wrote this article about Nancy--who also went the Horse Owner Program.

Horse Article

Minnesota Extension talks horses
By Alexandra Jorissen

PINE ISLAND-RideAbility volunteer Nancy Yorke, a volunteer of three years, went to the Leatherdale Equine Center at the University of Minnesota campus in St Paul on January31. She attended one of the winter horse owner programs presented by the Minnesota extension. Yorke explained, "Even though I don't own a horse, I decided to attend the horse sessions to learn more about taking care of and dealing with them. I feel the more I learn, the more I can help at RideAbility."

Yorke, a Rochester resident of thirteen years, heard about the university's horse owner program from a RideAbility horse exercise information email. RideAbility's horse exercise program is for volunteers who want to work with the horses one on one. They meet on Thursday evenings when there are no classes scheduled.

The horse program offered a large number of sessions ranging from common causes of equine lameness and treatment options to equine behavior, or asking a veterinarian your horse questions.

In the manure management class, Betsy Wieland from the Hennepin County extension talked about bedding options for horse stalls. It is important to not use hardwoods like oak, cedar, and walnut because they are toxic. Cedar can even scald a horse. Wieland also explained the pros and cons of hauling away manure, direct spreading, composting and spreading, and composting manure for sale. She also talked about the possibility of using manure for things other than fertilizing; for example, some construction sites use it to help with erosion.

Molly McCue, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, talked about equine genetic disorders. McCue illustrated how to identify and manage diseases like glycogen branching enzyme deficiency, hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA), junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB), and overo lethal white syndrome. She also discussed the American Horse Association's spending nine million dollars on research to learn more about genomes of the horse. This research uncovered that horses have about 20,000 genes. That is the average number for mammals, including humans. Only about 2,000 of those are unique to equines.

Though there were many excellent sessions to pick from, Yorke's favorite was the optional equine facility tour. She said, "It was great to see the different kinds of equipment they use and the wonderful facilities they have." She added, "In the beginning, my main reason for volunteering was the horses. I love horses and wanted to be around them. I soon found the students were just as wonderful, and now I have two reasons for coming back: the students' smiles and the horses."

This was the cut line for the photo

Nancy Yorke leads Jarvin Tea Time Andy-JT, on RideAbility’s sensory trail.

My Twilight Shirt

2009-03-12T15:56:00.001-07:00

There are many sending in video entries for the Be in New Moon contest. I decided that I would send in a video also and since one of the thing that is judged is creativity; I drew this Awesome (I thought so at least) drawing. Then I read the rest of the official rules. It said that entries were not allowed to show anything trademark or copyrighted. I drew the New Moon logo on it so I'm not using that. I thought about it for a few days and was searching for something to replace (I originally want something to go along) the drawing.

Then I thought about what I could do with a t-shirt, it took me a while but I finally got something! It's so cute! A black tee with teeth cut out worn over a white tank. I had another idea to cut a few slashes to make it look like it had been scratched by a dog/wolf. I made A Lot of videos before rereading the official rules. Grrr. You can have things from the movies if you made it! I made a more recordings and had mom look the 8 or so I had narrowed the good ones down too. Mom said that I needed to draw it much larger. Oh darn. I had less a week at this point.

Instead of using one piece of paper I used six--and almost eight--pieces of paper. It was about poster sized. I finally finished two nights before and recorded again. I had over 50 recordings!! It took most of the next day to slowly delete the ones I didn't like. I got it down to only a few before showing mom. Mom looked at them and then decided to see how big it was. It was right over the the limit. OH No! I had like no time to do anymore. I ran to change into my shirt and went to try filming a few more. Thank goodness I had a script from earlier that I could repeat from memory. I think I nailed it!

I then the internet decided to be a pain. It took forever to get it uploaded and it took a couple tries before I decided to go to bed. I left in the morning to go to the Narha con so mom sent it after I left.

Now I just have to wait for the phone call/email/or letter!

Ladybug Productions Movie Premier

2009-03-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

My brothers and I are taking a theater and art class in Vasa (near Goodhue) at Ladybug Arts by Natalie Thomas.

This years play is Jonah's Luck. Natalie writes and choreographs everything herself. Pretty amazing!

The filming part was finished a few weeks ago and Natalie set up a movie premier. It was really weird seeing me--dressed as a clown--on screen. Though I have to admit it was fun. Both me and Collin were in the bloopers. Collin slipped really badly and I....well I just messed up on my numbers. :)

:0]

An Outback fundraiser

2009-03-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

Christina, Kathy, Val, and Nancy at the Outback fundraiser.

I just love having a reason to take pictures of other people and since the person putting together RideAbility's newsletter didn't have a lot--I now have a reason!! Saturday RideAbility had a fundraiser at Outback Steakhouse in Rochester. Oh my gosh! It was awesome! Heaven on a plate! Everyone seemed to have loads of fun. I hope they do this again.

:0]

Book Binding

2009-03-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

My brothers, mom, and I went to Open Book in Minneapolis. Open Book is what the building is called but it houses several groups like the Loft which offers writing classes, a publishing company, a cafe and Minnesota Center for the Book Arts.

MCBA offers many different classes. The one my brothers and I took was on limp books. We learned a little bit about the history of the limp book before starting.

I would not mind doing another class it was pretty fun. My only disappointment is that I don't know what to write or draw in. I don't want to waste it..that would be a shame.

State Park Article

2009-02-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

The paper keeps track of how many people look at the articles online. Mom ask someone we know to send the link to everyone that has anything to do with RideAbility to read it.

Last weeks paper stated that my State Park article was number 7 for most viewed! Then I was reading this weeks paper; apparently people waited a while to look at it so I made it to #6! My article was in the Top 10 Most Viewed Articles in the paper, two weeks in a row!

Family awarded for visiting Minnesota parks

2009-02-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

Here is the article I wrote about my family visiting the parks. I don't have the photo up at the moment because the only copy is on my moms hard drive. Hopefully I can work on getting it up and here is the link to the Zumbrota News Record page for it! It was also in in the Jan 28 issue of the News Enterprise in West Concord, Mn.

Article

Family awarded for visiting Minnesota parks
By Alexandra Jorissen

WANAMINGO-Starting with two little books each, the Jorissen kids of Wanamingo-Alex, Collin, and Kyle with their mom, Annette, finished their mission to travel to all 71 Minnesota state parks and recreation areas. From the first trip to Nerstrand Big Woods to their last, it took them two and one-half years to drive to, explore and hike all of the parks.

The first book they used was the Minnesota passport book. This book records the parks, and with each park visit it gets another stamp. The second book is for the hiking club. The Jorissens hiked over 200 miles. They also participated in various park programs including touring a hydro power plant, looking for shark teeth that were left from when Minnesota was covered by a sea, taking a tour of an underground mine, and other activities.

Kyle's favorite park experience was touring the lesser known part of Fort Snelling from both world wars and learning about the conservation effort being done to save it. Collin enjoyed Split Rock Lighthouse the most and liked seeing it lit up. Although their dad, John, could not always make the trips, he liked Interstate because of its geology. Annette was very reluctant to pick a single park, but she decided Garden Island was the one. That park was a particularly memorable trip for the whole family. Just to get there, the family had to drive through Canada to get to the Northwest Angle. To get to their final destination of Garden Island, the family had to take a boat. Alex's favorite was the Hill Annex open pit mine because the mine put their tour guide's stories into perspective. Daryll Robertson, the guide, talked about when he and his dad worked at the mine. He remembered when his dad and other miners talked about unionizing and when the women miners produced more iron ore than any during other time period during WWII.

There were some less favorable moments, too. Everyone mentioned the night of camping at McCarthy Beach. Collin and Kyle both stated "It wasn't fun because the tent was flooded." Everyone hated sleeping in the car, but had to because their sleeping bags were soaked and the floor of the tent was covered with two inches of standing water.

After visiting Lake Maria state park near St. Cloud in early October, the Jorissens visited the DNR office in St Paul where they ordered their plaques. In early December, they were lucky enough to get their awards and show them to their Grandma, hours before she went home. But the Jorissen family got more than plaques. They added, "We learned a lot about Minnesota that we would never have learned if we hadn't gone to the state parks."

Both the hiking and passport club books are $14.95. Though the hiking club book is currently unavailable, people may still participate by recording the passwords until they can obtain one. At different milestones in the books, participants get patches with either state symbols or a mile amount depending on the book it's in and camping certificates good for one night of free camping halfway through and again at the end. Once completed, members send in their books to the DNR office in St Paul to get their plaques. To date, only two hundred individuals, families or groups have earned the hiking club plaque. Only a thousand plaques have been awarded for the Passport Club since it was first started in 1984.

Here is the the bit for the photo.

15-year-old Alex, 11-year-old Collin and 9-year-old Kyle stand with their dog Bentley at the password sign for the hiking club at Lake Maria State Park on October 20, 2008. They used their visits as part of their homeschool studies and have already started their second round touring the parks.

U Mn Horse Owner Program

2009-01-31T20:47:00.000-08:00

This is one of the U's horse exam rooms. During the program this was used for some of the lectures.

Mom and I drove up to the Leatherdale Equine Center at the University of Minnesota. She dropped me off so I could go to the Horse Owner Classes. I got there right away before most people. I went and sat in in Manure Management. Mom laughed when I told her that was one of the lecture's I planned to go to.

I sat down and listened to the conversation between another participant and the person giving the lecture, Betsy Wieland. Then this couple walks and sits in a row between the two people talking. As I am listening and commenting the guy is watching me! He kept catching my gaze! It was really weird. Then Chris and Nancy (friends from RideAbility) sat next to them and Chris started talking with them. After a while I noticed he had West Concord on the back of his jacket. I figured out that he knew my mom. He must have realized who I was.....I look a Lot like my mom and he reprinted my state park article. At lunch---they fed us too---all of us sat next to each other. He sat just on the otherside of Chris. I was glad he could not see me. It was a little awkard and then I heard him ask about me! I was only four feet away from him. He asked Chris if I was the Jorissen girl. Chris laughed and went "She's right here behind me!" So there was no chance he didn't know I was there and he said "She had longer hair in the picture." Then thankfully they stopped.

The other sessions I took were: Equine Genetic Disorders, Equine Law Issues, and Pasture Management. They were all very informative and interesting. I am hoping to be able to use some of the legal info for RideAbility.

J turns eight

2009-01-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

Right away in the morning the five of us went to the Barnes & Noble to get some books for a birthday present for a friend, J. J turned eight Wednesday but celebrated today. We went and saw a movie at the theater and then went to a restaurant with an indoor playground. All of the kids small enough to go play in it did, while the adults and I sat and talked. It was fun, I don't really get to see any of them much in the winter months.

At B&N each of us got a book. I got Philip Reeve's Here Lies Arthur. It's a really interesting view on the tale of King Arthur and not one I have read before. I am a little more then halfway through so I don't think I can add much more than that at the moment.

Afterward we went to a few shops to check prices on appliances and went to World Market to see what they had left. All of the World Markets in Mn are closing, sadly. I've only went the World Market a few times but I like their candy. I really like the candy from Japan (which I have already eaten most of already) and don't know where else I can buy it. Kasugai Gummy. Hmm. Can someone help me? *Blinks eyelashes sadly*

That's it for now,
Alex
(:3= (Walrus)

Newspaper Article!!

2009-01-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

The paper came out today and I sent in an article. It was printed!!! It's called Family awarded for visiting Minnesota parks.

It's pretty exciting! Now I have to go find something else to write about!!

Physics at Northrup

2009-01-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

I am on my way home from the University of Mn's Northrup building. They had their yearly physics program, Physic's Force. It was pretty fun! They were goofy and funny while still making their point. :)

I wish - was able to explain all, or even one for that matter, of the experiments.

It was really cold out. We had to walk two blocks from the parking ramp to the Northrup building. The walk seemed to last quite a while and we were very fast. The temperature, including wind chill, was about 20 F.

Brrr...It's kind of cold

2009-01-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

I had to get up and work outside at a farm today. It wasn't too bad, exept for it was a little chilly out. The day warmed up bit while I was out, the last time I looked it was -10 F.

I, for the most part didn't get cold. Towards the end I had too sit and kneel in the snow. Then my gloves got wet and kept sticking to metal (That got really annoying, really quickly.) and my fingers got frigid rapidly.

I love Minnesota and Minnesota winters. But at the moment I am content viewing winter through frosted windows.

Alex

Here's the rules Chickens.

2008-12-14T20:30:00.002-08:00

What has gone wrong in the world. I can't even get a bunch of chickens to be afraid of me!

Correct me if I'm wrong. Chickens are notoriously for being...well chickens. Generally they are supposed to keep their distance away from you. General rules for a chicken/person relationship (there are of course exceptions for these rules, like for the chicken I had for a while).

Chickens: you as a whole are supposed to be afraid. Very afraid.
You chickens are NOT to wonder close enough to my feet that I trip to avoid stepping on you.
When I trip over your fellow chicken and a bucket of water comes within inches of squishing you. You do not, ever, just stand there and look at me as if you don't have a care in the world.

It's interesting though to watch a chicken that close up. Some of the newer chickens at the farm has are Rhode Island Reds. The Reds were debeaked (Not by her choosing.) and it's kinda odd watching them drink water and their tongues come out. It reminded me, a little bit of a reptiles.

Farm girl...well kind of

2008-12-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

I would like to be a farm girl. But for now I have consented to working at different ones. I really shouldn't be complaining at all because I could be living in a city or a burb. (I never want to live in a burb--no offense) I get to live in a small town and drive by farms, heck I even have friends that have horses.

I first started going to RideAbility in April of 2006. So I was first exposed to Horses and sheep if you count sheep being on the same property (I almost never saw them at first) as me, exposer.

Then in late 2006 I saw an ad saying that a sheep farm needed help. So I e-mailed. Sadly they said they would like someone who was older. I was almost 14 and knew that it was very unlikely I would get a job but I had hoped. After a while I decided that I would wait before trying again to get a job. In early 2007 my mom happened to talk to the farmer and the farmer said that they still needed someone to help with chores. So once in a while I go out there. I love going out to their farm.

I got to see their first calf on the farm a bit before he was butchered. I haven't really called it a job unless it was to someone I didn't know very well or like this previous Feb when they were gone for a week; one of their ducks died (I was naughty and grew attached to a duck that wasn't even expected to live through the winter) and it was frigid out. That was a double whammy.

Most of the time , besides way below freezing temps, I love going out there. I really like the both of them, I learn loads and have tons of fun! When I am by myself (and it's not really hot or cold) it's really peaceful. It is like meditating for me.

I am going to stop rambling now!

:]

Yippee!

2008-12-08T20:39:00.001-08:00

We got our plaques! Since we have been to all 71 Mn State Parks and have hike almost 200 miles (uff-da). If I hold them close enough to my face I get a burning wood smell from were the laser etched the wood....it smells really nice.

It took two and a half years to travel to all of the state parks in Minnesota. We hiked, visited a lot of historic landmarks, and a heck of a load of camping! After getting to certain points we got certificates so we could getting night of free camping. Which helped to push mom; good for her but not me. I can't say that I ever really got excited about the camping part. Especially after our tents flooded (then we had to sleep in the car) and we had to sleep in the car at McCarthy Beach S.P. Mom keeps telling me that there were not that many unpleasant camping trips...HA...when you do that much camping.....

Our first hike was at, I think, Nerstrand's Big Woods (as in Laura Ingalls) and the last one was Lake Maria. After the last hike mom instead of feeling great about finishing; said that she felt sad because we didn't have anymore hikes to do! We are now participating in Volksporting. She feels better now. :D

Working a case with Gil Grissom

2008-12-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we went to the CSI: The Experience at the Science Museum of Minnesota. It was so cool. Once inside the exhibit we watched a video with Grissom explaining what we were about to to do; on our first day as a CSI.

I thought the autopsy was interesting. Although I would not have held the beaker with the stomach contents that close to to my face. ;)

There were three groups each numbered with a different colored sheets. We had the green sheet. We then went to our "crime scene" and had four minutes to draw everything down. After getting our evidence we went through several labs, including looking at the autopsy. When we figured out what happened we had to put our reports onto the computer. It was really cool! I am hoping to go back and go through the other 2 "cases".

Kyle and Collin looking at an investigation kit.

Where the wild things are

2008-08-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

This last week has been busy!! Last week starting on Monday, I was volunteering at the Mn Zoo. Since I am under 18. I am in the zoo's ZooTeen program which is for kids a young as 13. It is so cool! I learn a lot about the zoo and get to see parts of the zoo I didn't even know existed.

On Mon., Tues., and Wens. I helped with the Marine Bio I camp for 10-12. Gina, the instructor, talked about Ichthyology (the study of fish), corals, and had the "campers" dissect a crayfish....which I got to help clean up afterward. On Wens., the Marine Bio group went to Como Zoo and then Underwater Adventures at MOA or Mall of America. I have never been to UWA before. It was awesome!!

I was asked if I could help with the Mentor Program on Thursday and Friday because their ZooTeen couldn't be there. So I switch which programs those days. The Mentor Program is for inner city kids to look at the different jobs that are available at the zoo. I was late on Thursday because we had a flat tire. When I got there, our group went and saw Deep Sea 3D at the IMAX. On Friday went into the holding area for Asian Wild horse...It was empty. :) Everyone got to help clean up manure! Which wasn't to weird for me because I do it all the time. It was so funny to listen to the campers complain though! We were supposed to go to the dolphin show and the monorail but they were both canceled. The monorail was getting repairs done and the dolphin show has been canceled because their dolphin Allie is pregnant.

My zoo t-shirt

=0] Alex

Parelli Tour Stop in Madison

2008-07-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

On the 11th I rode with Val, a friend from RideAbility and one of her friends Dani to Madison Wisconsin. We had tickets for the Parelli tour stop. Val asked me to go with her last year but I went to a pre-vet camp I had signed up for.

For anyone who doesn't know what Parelli is. Parelli is a program for "training" humans, basic psychology and horse communication. They had several demonstrations that were really cool.

I also tried some new things. Friday night the three of us and another one of Val's friend, Deb (she met us in Madison and then all four of us stayed in the same room.) went to a Indian restaurant. It was so good. I tried a couple different things but I don't remember what they were called.

The second night Val, Dani, Deb, Joe (another friend from RideAbility), and two other people I met previously at the Horse Expo who's names I can't remember at the moment, and me, all went to a Mediterranean restaurant. That was really good too. I had lamb and I even tried calamari!

It was a pretty fun trip!

Naked Llama's

2008-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a call from Melissa (Who's farm I occasionally do chores at). She told me that they finally found someone who would shear their llamas. She asked if I would like to watch. As soon I got off the phone I changed as fast I could so I wouldn't miss anything.

After catching Zipper, one of three llamas. Ann (the shearer) started taking the black fiber off of Zipper. Zipper kept slamming his weight into whoever he could so it took about a couple hours and a lunch break.

Melissa then got Tucker into a small area so she could catch him without having to run after him. He let her put the halter on without a problem. When Ann started shearing he just stood there. Both Ann and Melissa concluded the last farm he was at must have trained him. It took way less long longer than it did with Zipper (hopefully it won't take them long to shear ChaChi either)

When my mom came to pick me up. Melissa asked me if my mom would be interested in seeing Tucker sheared. I went to the car as she pulled up and asked. My brothers were with her so they all came with me into the big barn to watch for a few minutes.

I wish I had brought my camera. It is so weird seeing the transition from big, furry, tough looking llama to small, fuzzy, awkward llama.

=0]

Busy Summer Weekend

2008-06-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to Home Depot so the boys could do the kids project. The project was a little boat. Most Home Depot's and Lowe's have wood crafts for kids to do on most Saturdays. I used to do these when I was little and probably longer then I was allowed (shh.. don't tell anybody). Afterward we drove over to the Rochester Art Center for the family art project. We forgot that they start the project at 1 and it was only ten. So we went back to the the Mayo Civic Center (we walked through the skyways) to look at the tables set up at the Mn DFL (Democratic Farmer Laborer) convention.

Al Franken was there and spoke for a little while (Al is running for US Senate from Minnesota). It was like being in a concert. Everybody shouting, clapping and yelling. It was really cool to listen. I have not been to a political convention, so this was a first.

While walking around we were able to get a free Al Franken t-shirt, a couple pins, and a yoyo. We also bought t-shirts from someone. Warning: If you like Bush you may want to skip down to the next paragraph. Collin got the one that said "McCain, McBush, McSame. 100 Years War, Arrogance, Ignorance, and Incompetence." Kyle got "More Trees. Less Bush. (Worst Environmental President in History)." Mom got "Of course it still hurts...you got screwed by an elephant" then it had a picture of the republican mascot. The one I bought it "Separate Church and State (my god my not be your god)". They didn't have my shirt there so they are going to send my mine later this week.

Then at one we went back to the art center. The project that the boys made was a volcano. Collin's erupted with red lava and Kyle's with blue. It was pretty cool. I wish I knew how to get moms pictures off her camera. I forgot my camera. :(

Horses lined up in the barn ready for a massage!

Sunday morning mom brought me over to RideAbility (a therapeutic horse back riding for people with disabilities. I'll have to talk more about it some time) at 9 am. There was a fund raiser. Kathy's (someone who does a lot of speaking for RideAbility) sister came to have two equine massage workshops. One on Saturday and the one I went to on Sunday. Rita (Kathy's sister) and Tamara (someone who works with Rita) came all the way from Texas to do this.

I paid 100 dollars to be a part of it. All of the money went to RideAbility and a local company gave RideAbility money to match what was raised. That $100, was completely worth it. It last until about 3 o'clock. At First Rita talked about the different areas and how to massage that particular muscle. She did the whole left side of Red (one of RideAbility's horses) then each of us did part of the right side. Rita and Tamara massaged each of our left legs so we knew what it felt like to have only one side done. It did feel a bit weird. After eating lunch everybody got to give the horse they were were working with that day a massage.

Tamara talking with Hannah and Aubrey.

Tamara showed a few of us talking together a couple things that would help with balance and posting. Someone who was there Saturday said that after 3 o'clock they worked on riding a little. They tried posting without their feet in the stirrups. Everyone apparently had a hard time. (I don't think I could do that at all.)

They are talking about maybe doing this again, some time in the future. I think this could be a great yearly fund raiser!

=0]

Alex

Camping with Bison

2008-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon Mary (a close friend) and her daughter Kathryn came to our house to pick us up to go camping. Before going we had to first pack all of our camping gear, clothes, food and our recent finds from the library.

We camped at Blue Mounds State park which is near the South Dakota and Iowa border. The bison weren't very close so I wasn't able to get a decent picture. The picture is of the state park patch and a corner of my postcard.

Saturday morning we went to Pipestone National Park. Pipestone has been quarried for thousands of years, being carved into ceremonial pipes for Native Americans. The pipestone is so soft that it needs to be quarried by hand.

We took the self guided tour. Along part of the trail (a small section Kathryn and Mary could not go because Kathryn is in a wheelchair) there was a rock that Joseph Nicollet and the people traveling with him had carved their names into.

Afterward we looked at the gift shop and got these cute pipestone turtles and one of my brothers got a pipestone owl.

That afternoon we went Jeffers Petroglyphs.

http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jp/

You walk along a path through and around the rocks. In the rocks there are carvings of atlatls (a type of spear), buffalo, thunderbirds, a hand, arrows and turtles. Some 5,000 years old. It's quite amazing. If you ever go you should go in the morning or evening. Their easier to see with the sun at an angle be cause of the shadows cast.

There is also this really cool rock that has been smoothed and glossed over. The reason it's glossy is that bison over the last thousand and so years kept rubbing on it.

Kathryn absolutely loves anything to do Native Americans,so she seemed to have a great time.

=0]

Alex

Earth Hour

2008-03-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today, my family turned off our lights from 8 to 9. Along with many other people and cities around the world that participated in Earth Hour. It's amazing looking at photos from around the world. Even google was dark. :) You can see their website at earthhour.org

Alex =o]

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!
We have more snow in south eastern Minnesota. Kinda of odd, I think having Easter this early in the year. I heard that Easter won't be this early again till 2063.
I'd better be going.

Alex =0]

Small towns and John Deere

2008-01-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

When my family moved back to Minnesota, we moved to a fairly small town and my dad got a job at John Deere. This is the view from my window. That is where my dad works. I had never given John Deere much thought before. We saw the tractors all the time in fields.

Well it didn't take a lot for me to realize that small towns LOVE their John Deere.

My family said that we didn't want to turn into another John Deere fanatic. It's been about three years since we moved here and we've done pretty well. We each had a couple JD hats maybe a couple toy tractors. Not too much and not too little considering that my dad works there.

But these past couple months we got.....

A JD Zippo,

gloves,

Wind chimes,

and now a tractor shaped mailbox.

Oh look who I found in the tractor the other day!

It still isn't all that bad, it could be so much worse. I know a couple people that have proved it!

I never want to be found wearing JD suspenders, eating off JD plates, having every JD toy model, or with a John Deere Barbie. I really hope it doesn't go that go that far.

This is my first blog. I can only get better, right?

Alex =0]