Offically Homeowners!

Jared and I officially got the keys to our newly owned house. As of 11:00 yesterday morning, we own our house! It's very exciting. I already moved a load of stuff over to the new place. I'll be moving the rest today.

Be patient if I'm not posting right now. We're losing our internet connection for a while. I promise more updates later...

Jenna, Jenna, Jenna...

Hello!

Here is an excerpt recently from Jenna Elfman's website. Looks like our lives are parallel. Check her out, she's awesome!

Hi all! Jenna here. I hope your new year is going as well as mine. I thought it was time to fill you in on all the good news. First of all, I am coming back to TV! I’m creating a brand new TV show and I can’t tell you much more than that. I want to tell you…but I can’t. It’s very hush hush. But I can say it’s going to be hilarious. I’ll let you know more soon...

I also starred in and produced my first film! "Touched". A really beautiful film. I will let you know how and when you can see it… be prepared to bring tissue. I also moved into my dream house at the beginning of this year…finally! It took forever to remodel but it was worth it…I love it! I’m also about to celebrate my 10-year anniversary with Bodhi. 10 Years! I wrote a piece for Glamour Magazine in the “couples section”. It’s in this month’s edition on newsstands now! Check it out… On the humanitarian side, I’m working very closely with Criminon, a non- profit criminal rehabilitation program that actually works, it gives these men and women the tools and life skills to become contributing members of society. I have been tutoring an inmate through the program and he’s on his third course. His success stories have been fantastic and I’m incredibly proud of him. Here’s some more amazing news. Some of you may know how rampant the legal drugging of kids is in this country. “He talks too much and won’t sit still… give him Ritalin!” Well, you may not know that school teachers and psychologists could force and threaten the parent to put the kid on drugs and if the parent refuses, the school could call Child Protective Services who could charge the parents with neglect and could actually TAKE THE CHILD AWAY! (For not giving your kid drugs!). So, I went to Washington D.C. with a few other dedicated people and we pushed and supported a bill that put the choice and decision into the hands of the parents, where it belongs. Well, I’m thrilled to say the bill passed on December 3rd, 2004. It’s called the Prohibition on Mandatory Medication. No more forcing kids to take drugs, no more threats! It’s up to the parents. Yeah!!! Okay! That’s good for now. A new TV show. A new film. A new house. A new criminal rehabilitation program. A new law passed in congress that protects every child in America. Phew! Okay, I’m gonna sit by my new swimming pool, eat brownies and laugh at my pugs. Stay tuned for more details…

Life as Art

Life As Art

You see that’s a matter of viewpoint. Beauty has something to do with beingness then doesn’t it? It’s way up there.

But do you know at the same time that the fellow says, I’m no artist.” He says, I’m not an artist.” He means by that, “I don’t paint; I don’t write; I don’t compose music.” What is he doing that might throw this into question?

He might be living a very beautiful life. Because the biggest and widest canvas that you could paint would be the canvas of a life. A man could actually achieve the level of being a professional beautiful liver. He could. There are some people you are glad to know simply because they seem to lead a beautiful life. It’s interesting, isn’t it?

So people say we have to go hungering after art through painting, writing and so forth, and what are these people doing? They’re writing about, they’re painting about, composing about life. You’re sitting there with this enormous canvas and all the raw materials to put together into what is actually a piece of art... You’re overlooking the primary field of art, which would be to live beautifully.

L. Ron Hubbard

Breadmaker

Jared has decided that he isn't going to eat wheat anymore, so rather than pay tons of dollars for wheat-free bread, I've decided to try making bread myself. The first objective was to get a breadmaker. Someone on Ebay outbid me on a really reasonable one, so I went to Good will and got the same thing for much cheaper ~ $5.00. I was excited.

I tried to make a loaf of Rye bread and it was really really bad. Does anyone know how to make bread at all? I've done some research. I'm trying to figure out how to make wheat-free, gluten-free, yeast-free bread. Yummy!

The Internet has been no help. I'm going to keep trying, but don't be surprised when I make the best damn bread in the whole country.

City Kids Have it Easy

Check out this letter from a Marine that was once a farm kid.

Dear Ma and Pa:
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on "route marches", which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice but awful flat. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Capt. is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none. This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes. Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds, and he's 6'8" and weighs near 300 pounds dry. Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,

Gail.

Filling the Void

I've decided that I love my goat and my mule very much. Though they are very close, I want to be near them all the time. I've found a way to fill the void. I am going to read and write stories of goats, donkeys and mules. I have complied a list of some goat/donkey books that I want to read. My other books are now in progress (the ones I'm writing).

Here's the list:

Gregory the Terrible Eater

Three Billy Goat's Gruff

Goats of the World

Beatrice's Goat

Oh Look

G is for Goat

Bill Grogan's Goat

The Duck and the Goat

Little Donkey, Close your Eyes

The Donkey's Dream

The Definitive Donkey

Travels with my Donkey

Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes

Donkey Trouble

Donkey Rescue

The Donkey and the Rock

The Donkey that Sneezed

Daffy Down Donkey

Look for them, let me know if you see any of them... It's my way to fill the void for now!

Patches

I'm not one for sending chain emails around, but this is great. Check out www.patchesthehorse.com and download the file. It's very adorable and worth the wait! I'm convinced that I'm going to take over the condo association and convince them to allow me to have a goat

Jared Wrote a Book

Did you know that my husband Jared Anderson wrote and published his first book last year? I really forgot to post this, and I am redeeming that now.

Last year, Jared finished up his very first book. I was so excited, but now I'm excited to tell you. It's called Cryptic Advice. You can order it on Amazon.com. I really enjoyed the book. If you want to buy one, let me know, and we can get you an author signed edition! Wouldn't it be exciting. Just know you may be holding a best-seller...start early... be a fashion starter!

Artists Enhance our Lives

I was thinking the other day was a good team artists and scientists are. Artists are the people in this society that have enough guts to take a look at the status quo and be willing to make a change or venture something different. It must take a lot of good. There are many times that they are called cooky and weird, but in hindsight, we see how much they can change.

Take Leonardo Da Vinci for example. He was an incredible artist and a scientist. He used his artistic mind to change the way that the world was. He was the first to think of several things, including the flying machine. People thought he was weird, but her persisted! Look at how much we adore him now. Also, look at how much he changed the world.

Hug an artist today. I sure hope I get lots of hugs.

Gone

Greg and Half-Pint have officially moved. They are now hanging out on 5 acres in a the very beautiful countryside of western Oregon. They are actually living on one of my favorite streets in the world. It's not TOO far away from where I am going to live, so I think it will all work out to be fine.

It's a little hard to get up on the morning and look out the window only to find that they're not there eating all the hay.

I also almost drove home yesterday to let them out to play at lunch...

It's going to be hard to get over no longer being a farmer, but I think that I may be able to. I'm sure I'll find a goat or a mule to take care of in Greece!!!

Greg amd Half-Pint

Greg: My sister, my cousin and I bought him at the State fair about 6 years ago. I estimate that he is 6.5 years old because he was very young when we got him. He is a pygmy goat. He's named after the TV show Dharma and Greg (you know the one with Jenna Elfman). I've owned him my whole life, and I've taken care of him for quite a bit of it. He used to live with a bunch of other bigger goats, and he hated it. He's perfectly happy being the only goat around with a mule to protect him. Sometimes Half-Pint will try to beat up on him, but he's quite tough, and knows how to fight back.

He recently went through a very traumatic incident. I had him tethered outside while I was gone for a while, and when I came home he had been attacked by a large dog. It got him around the top of the neck and did quite a bit of damage. He would have died under any other circumstances, but Paula and I saved his life. He lived in our spare bathroom for about a week, and I even got him housetrained. He is definitely my baby. He actually hasn't fully healed from that. He had one very large, deep tear wound. It was full of dirt and stuff. It's been 3 months, and it doesn't take constant care anymore. He should be able to heal on his own now. His neck is a little crooked now. We think that the dog broke one of the vertebrae. He may not recover ever, but he's not in pain at all. That's why the hair on his neck has been shaved off.

He is a very social goat. He loves people, he loves kids, he may be shy of your dog until he learns that it's OK. He will follow you around if you let him. He liked to run. We exercise together, he's very cute when he runs. He really really has a very clean affinity line. He will eat almost anything. He loves human food. He likes any kind of cracker. He LOVES bread. He eats paper, so make sure that you don't have any important papers around him (though it's not very good for him). Just make sure that he gets equal attention with Half-Pint, or he'll get jealous.

I let him run around in the yard when I'm at home. He never goes very far, but I keep an eye on him. If you have flowers around, it's not a good idea. Goats eat rosebushes and petunias, and I'm sure a large variety of other flowers. You can tether him up away from your flowers but next to blackberry bushes, and he'll love you forever. He will devour them. He's good that way.

The only health thing with Greg is that he has gotten lice before. It's really odd, and I don't know how he got them. You just have to put the Sevin on him, and you're done. Repeat every once in a while. Goat lice can't transfer to horses, dogs, cats or people, so you don't need to worry about them at all. If he is itching a lot (or if the hair on a part of him is shorter than on other parts) it's a sign that he has lice. Dusting isn't bad for him or the mule at all, so it's safe.

It's a little bit of a loss for me to not be around him, so I may need to visit often for a while.

Half-Pint:

I've had him a lot less time. He is 18 years old, but as far as I can tell, he's in perfect health. He has an iron stomach, and will eat anything. When the blackberries are out, he and Greg team up and attack them until there is nothing left but the stickers!

As far as I can tell, he has been used only as a companion for other horses his whole life, and no one has really worked with him at all for himself. When we got him, he didn't know how to lead at all. He was very confused.

What I've learned from training him is that you just have to use the same word very firmly over and over again, and he'll catch on.

He is a little shy of men sometimes. He may have been abused, but I think that the more likely reason is that he has always only ever had women take care of him. Jared didn't participate much in his training or anything, but he got used to him being around, so that may not be a problem anymore.

I have a feeling that he is profoundly grateful to both Jared and I for taking such incredible care of him and loving him so much for himself. He will do ANYTHING that I ask him too. I've ridden him several times, and he has just let me. I'll keep coming out and working with him (if that's fine with you). I'm sure if Joni really got in communication with him he would let her ride him no problem. He's got a really big heart.

I've been watching his feet. They are very tiny, but it's been pretty muddy. I try to pick them out every day. If you don't get to it, it's not a big deal, just keep an eye on them, and make sure that they're not gross.

He was pretty thin when I got him, and I notice that he's ALWAYS hungry. I have wormed him, and it didn't seem to make a difference. Just make sure he is eating enough. I was feeding him pellets, but he did just as good with some hay and grass.

I never let him out without being tied to something. He gets very excited and confused and will run away, and he is very hard to catch again.

Half-Pint is an excellent guard. If I had let him be near Greg when we was tethered outside, he never would have gotten hurt. I have seen him ward off elk before, and it was very cool. He would never let anything hurt something that he had affinity for. Mules are very capable of killing things like cougars.

I try to groom him and keep him clean. Just check and make sure that he's doing fine. Make sure that there aren't any ticks on him, and if you do find any, dust him with Sevin.

These two animals together have been my pride and joy for the last seven months. I'm sure that you'll adore them. It doesn't take nearly as much time to take care of them as it sounds like. Just make sure that you give them love.

Sorry this is so long, but this is most of the data that I can think of about these two. At least you should be acquainted now.

Farmer at Heart

I am really a farmer at heart. It's such an interesting thing! I grew up on a farm, but I never was really able to appreciate how lucky I was to be able to go outside into the great outdoors and create things for myself to do to entertain myself. I now consider it to be my greatest skill!

However, I never knew that I liked animals so much. Sure, I spent time helping with the cattle when needed, but I never really liked it.

When I went to boarding school in Oregon, I would help to take care of the animals, and even then I still didn't LOVE IT. I was too busy doing my studying to notice this missing facet of my life.

However, when my husband and I got married and moved into our first house, there was a noticeable missing feature in my life.

My grandma called me up one day and told me that she was going to send me her goat. At first I didn't like the idea of having to take care of him, etc., however I got very excited about it and had her send him over. Since then we have been inseperable.

My goat asked for a friend for his Birthday, and that's where the mule is. Actually, the mule is Greg's pet mule. :) They get along really great.

And while I had them, they were the most important part of my life. Almost as important as a kid.

Now, my husband and I have bought a condo, and they won't fit in my patio (well, they would, but not very well), so it's time to send them on. I have found the best place that is quite close to me for them to stay, but as I took them on their walk today, I realized that there was going to be quite the void in my life with them gone.

It's now on my list that further down the road when I have a house and some kids that I once again have a barn and a goat with a pet mule... until then, a big picture of them will have to do.

Honor Roll

Today I was working on college. I logged into the college website only to discover that I had gotten my first email from the college account that I've had for two years. I decided to open it up and see what it said.

When I got into my email, I read the title. It said that I had made the Honor Roll at Chemeketa Community College for my excellnt GPA, etc. That was pretty exciting to me. They sent me a certificate and a really nice letter. I've always wondered what made me so different. I try so hard at school, but all I do is what is asked for me. I guess that this is the reason that Message to Garcia was written. There should be more people like me in the world.

No seriously, I'm very proud of myself. I didn't know I could do it! But who the hell knew I could pull off a 4.0?

You're Dumb When You're Drunk

Toronto Globe & Mail March 30, 2004: In most of the Canadian Provinces, there is a policy of checking on any stalled vehicle on the highway when the temperatures drop in the single digits or below. One morning in March 2004 about 3AM RCMP Constable Bill Wisen was awakened to respond to such a call of a car off the shoulder on the Trans Canada Highway outside of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Constable Wisen located the car still running, stuck in deep snow alongside the highway. Pulling in behind it with his emergency lights on, Constable Wisen walked to the driver's door to find an older man passed out behind the wheel and a near empty bottle of vodka in the seat. He tapped on the window and the driver woke up, seeing the rotating lights in his rear view mirror and the RCMP Constable standing next to his car. The man panicked, and he jerked the gearshift into drive and hit the gas. The car's speedometer was showing 20-30-40 then 50 KPH, but its still stuck in the snow. Constable Wisen , having a sense of humor, began running in place next to the speeding but still stationary car. The driver was totally freaked thinking the officer is actually keeping up with him. This went on for about 20 seconds when Constable Wisen yelled at the man ordering him to "pull over". This man obeyed and turned his wheel and stopped the engine. Once out of the car the drunken driver asked about the RCMPs' special training and just how coukd the Constable run 50 KPH. The man, Mr. Robert Duport of Medicine Hat was arrested still believing that an RCMP Constable had outrun his car

Groundhog's Day

For us Oregonians, there isn't much point to this day they call "Groundhog's Day." Really, if you think about it, how does is apply to us? Some rodent in Pennsylvania comes out of his little rodent lair and looks at a shadow on a wall/ground, and that's supposed to tell us what the weather is going to do for the next 6 weeks. Maybe if you live in the region, it works better. However, how can we people in the other part of the country believe that it will affect OUR weather. For example, in Oregon, it rains from October to April non-stop. Is his shadow going to stop that? No, because it's an inevitable law of the universe. Unless of couse the Tsunami knocked the axis of the earth off (but 2 centimeters doesn't change much now does it?)

Additionally, any trained photography would know that if he didn't see his shadow, that would be a bad thing, as it would be OVERCAST, which indicates rain....boy are we Americans weird.

I hate to rain on the parade, but maybe I should let my goat out and see if he can see his shadow?

Neat Dates

Hey.

My mom was born on 2/2 my dad was born on 4/4 and I was born on 6/6. My sister got it all messed up when she was born in the right month 8, but got the day wrong 24...... No big deal, but the first three were cool.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Resumes

I've recently had a nice run in with having to prepare myself to being able to help present Jared in the job world. He's been looking at many good jobs recently, and we were just in the process of getting him to look good, so he had to write a resume. He has a fairly nice one.

I got to thinking. I wrote a resume long ago, but I forgot about it. I thought about all of the things that I have done and accomplished so far. I'm not yet legal to drink, but I still have all this incredible experience in so many different areas.

1.) I grew up on a farm and am very experienced with animals. That's very awesome. I know how to clean a pen, clean an animal, clip an animal, take care of a sick animal, know when an animal is sick, etc. That's a nice skill to have.

2.) I know how to run a movie projector.

3.) I am a trained and qualified 4-H leader. It will be exciting to put these skills into use when I move to Sherwood and join up with the clubs there.

4.) I worked at a bagel store for a while, and can prepare bagels and handle customer service.

5.) I worked as a cashier at a grocery store, so I'm very experience there.

6.) I worked as an Office Manager at the Delphian School for two years. I was then promoted to working in the HR department. I loved that job.

7.) I'm a trained volunteer minister from the Church of Scientology (see all the cool help that's being given after the tsunami disasters at www.volunteerminister.org).

8.) I'm a sophomore in college.

9.) I'm married and I own a house (those aren't things that one would put on a resume, but WOW).

10.) I've been hired on certain weekends to work as the manager of a horse barn.

11.) I'm a trained irrigator (though I'd never tell anyone that).

12.) I know how to operate a tractor.

13.) I know how to train a miniature mule to ride.

14.) I've been working as a college counsellor.

etc.......

Make a list of all the cool things you can do. It's fun.