FarmLife: April 2010

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Facing First Light

She is my Sophisticated Lady, elegant, fine-boned, beautifully chiseled, and reserved. You might ask, which one. Fawn or white. (You guessed correctly if you chose the lady on the left, although the white llama is my soul mate.)

Almost timid; it runs in her bloodlines. Although she is a perfect weight, she is thinner than I would like, what animal people call a hard keeper. Because she will not spit off another llama at feeding time, I am her protector, her grain keeper, and I make sure she has her full measure. Because I hand feed her (the Spoiled Rotten Llamas plaque is so appropriate), each morning we share extra time together, facing first light as it moves slowly over our mountain.

There is a stillness as you watch the invisible made visible, light rising eerily behind a copse of trees, velvet muzzle on your hand, sounds from grain crunchers. In this shared time with one of God's elegant creatures, I ponder the day ahead. How can I make a text more relevant for my students. What about myself needs reinvention. Was my aunt's knee replacement a success. And I pray. "Lord, make me a blessing to someone today." (Jan Karon, At Home in Mitford)

Facing first light, I confront my fears, small as they are. Questions about the future progression of my disease, will it attack other organs, will it lead to leukemia, what are the first real symptoms I should look for, is there a cancer diet. Small things, really. But life fully lived, on my terms, always asks hard questions. Because I can ask them, I can face the answers, facing first light.

NHL
Cancer
Llamas
The Farm
Lymphoma

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Down Home on The Farm

Last week exactly, I saw these lovely creatures down the road apiece, as we locals say. Which means that any random distance within a mile or walkable is a fair-game measurement. Mickey and I argued about the species. I said duck and he said wild turkey or turkey vulture. There were many in an old corn field, and they were eating happily. This week, I saw them again, and this time they provided a perfect photo op.

Definitely ducks. Still, mystery surrounds them. What kind are they? Are they free range? Did they escape confinement or range out of bounds? They were too tame and too accustomed to people to be wild critters. My guess is that they will nest in the pond and provide yet another season of ducklings. Guess I will have to take the llamas for a walk down home on the farm so they can see them too, especially since they are quite at home with the bird that nests in the paddock, soon to hatch her young. Plentiful peaceful pastures ~ that's life on the farm.

Faces of Family

Family comes in many sizes and shapes. The faces of my family are varied, expansive, and include always our beloved pets, both barn and house. But this post is about faces of family past, of images that I would not have and could not share were it not for the kindesss and digital artistry of Donna Bott van Sickle. She married my brother's college roommate, Randy, and to the best of my knowledge, they are living the happy ever after. My all-time favorite photograph of my brother David is this picture, which includes the creative construction of multimedia guru, Donna.

The images in this Animoto all come from Donna via David, and I am so thankful for having digital images at last of these perennial favorites.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Spring Cleaning x 2

Image by girlwithpearls22 via Flickr

The standard line my husband reprises whenever he has an audience is the barn is cleaner than the house. Sadly, most of the time he is right (hard to believe that his favorite saying is right again). Until yesterday, when Michael (photo from DEN PreCon @PETE&C 2010--he is definitely a multi-talented hard worker) and his crew provided the much-needed balance in my life, bringing spring cleaning to home and barn (and solutions to my vexation with adding 2 email addresses to my Droid). Don't get me wrong; they do not house clean, but moving two kerosene heaters, two five-gallon containers of the fuel, and a huge treadmill to the new barn did wonders for my sun room. The basement looks good too, because they organized it last autumn (okay, I guess they do house clean too) and the relocated the winter items we hold there. All this movement gave me the impetus to get my farmhouse life in order, and I did. Slept a solid 12 hours last night too.

But the real barn cleanup began on Easter Monday, when Michael cut short his holiday vacation with his family (Brandy dyed 700 Easter eggs, works, raises 3 great girls, and has a business, but she's another post) on their farm in Sayre, NY. On Easter Monday, Michael and Harold swept the stalls clean, removing winter hay and moving in 2 huge industrial fans to help the girls cope with an unseasonably high range of temperatures, 80-85 degrees. Dangerous without fans because the girls are not clipped yet, and Rev, who is pregnant,

(she's the dark chocolate Hershey Kiss in my life and 1st in line by the gate) minds the heat most.Thankfully, with the hay cleared, when the heat hit later that day, the fans ran, clear of debris that could create a fire hazard.

What does it take to keep a barn in order. Lots, especially when my husband told me when the llamas were arriving that he never wanted the barn to smell like a barn. And it does not. A promise kept. Life is good.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter Blessings

Gail Zapf is a friend who always remembers to celebrate the camaraderie between us, even when I forget. She always marks holidays and events with Jacquie Lawson eCards, and they are beautiful beyond belief. The sentiment, the images, the music all coalesce into Gail's special greeting. We share many things in common, including listing our animals as family because they are. Each time I receive one of these beautiful cards, I always intend to purchase a Lawson subscription, yet I never do. Until today, so now I can send wonderful greetings back.

From our farm to your home (the Lawson images in this greeting remind me of Jan Karon's novels), I wish to all my friends the blessings of Easter and the peace, warmth of the day, and a great holiday weekend.

Special greetings from Miss Ciera,

Rev, Tess Allenby, Et Cetera, Julie, Maggie, Nina, Alley Cat, Mickey and me.

Friday, April 2, 2010

A Fresh Spring Look

My brother, David, reminds me gently when I do not post regularly to this blog (he needs to remember I have 5 blogs, including a new Web 2.0 Ning blog on Student 2.0), so this one, the least currently professional one of the group, is often neglected. Perhaps I should qualify professional as connected to a vocation; my passion for animals and blogging about my llamas is more an avocation at the moment. But what what I am excited about is the new Blogger in Draft Designer Templates, a range of 15 new selections, with an array of background selections to change color schemes to suit your style.

I have always loved Blogger, and when I can control my platform (cannot at school and the PA Blog), I always reach for the simplicity of Blogger. What I have NEVER liked about the platform, however, is the lack of choice, and even with 15 new selections, it's really more like 5 with variations on color schemes and backgrounds. Still, I remain here, because of my commitment to working smart, and Blogger always gives me exactly that.

So, David, if you are reading this post (I know eventually you will), please (re-)send me the photo of you and Donna so I can write a post just about you (and that was the best picture ever of you, I think).

PS: I also selected a new template for my Changing Connections blog.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

EdTechConnect with Dr. Temple Grandin

With a sunny 72 degree day finally to arrive in PA, I could not resist posting a summer photo.
It isn't often that your avocation and vocation merge, when your passions for educating students, working with technology integration, and llamas all seamlessly come together. That convergence does not happen often, and my excitement is all because Porter Palmer posted about Dr. Temple Grandin on the DEN National Blog.

For Porter Palmer, Temple Grandin is her heroine.

I taught special education for my entire career in the classroom, so Temple Grandin is a sort of super hero for me. One of my favorite quotes is attributed to Dr. Grandin, “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good teacher.”

My introduction to Temple Grandin came over a year ago when a group of people were attending a planning session at Carol Reigh's llama farm for the GALA 2010 to be held on November 11-14 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Grantville, PA. So why am I promoting the Greater Appalachian Llama and Alpaca Association on an ostensibly educational technology blog. Simple. Dr. Temple Grandin is our keynote speaker, and her presentation is open to the public, so you are welcome to meet and greet her in person at our November event, after you have met her virtually at the EdTechConnect April 13 webinar, but more about that later.

What I know of Temple Grandin comes from the wonderful stories I have heard from my llama social network. Grandin is autistic, but she learned in childhood that she could manage and cope better by her association with animals, because she had an unusual ability to understand animals. Her studies, her life, and her writings have done much to shed new light on the still complicated issues of autism. And as she advocates for "all kinds of minds," she also promotes the more humane treatment of animals.

I have several vested interests in the work of Temple Grandin that make her for me, like Porter Palmer, a super hero. We share a love of ethical treatment of animals, and my youngest grandson is autistic. Today I purchased the following Grandin books on my Audible account, and I can promise you that before Discovery's EdTechConnect Webinar on April 13 at 7 PM EDT, I will have delved deeper into a world I am eager to understand.

Recommended Reading:

Please join us for what promises to be a truly exciting webinar, one in which, perhaps your passions, avocations, and vocational interests, like mine, will open a new world of understanding autism. You can register here: http://links.discoveryeducation.com/templegrandin.

If you are interested in pursuing more about Temple Grandin, if for you the professional and personal intersect with a growing curiosity, you might want to read the following short videos that introduce you to a new world of autism from a celebrated autistic adult who considers autism a gift, can think like a cow, and advocates early educational intervention. Please also check the links below for more opportunities to see Temple Grandin virtually or in-person.

Llama Love

Even, or perhaps especially in a small herd, one animal stands out. For me, it has always been this very big girl. She was what started me on my way to learning llamas, and when our guard llama conceived, our white llama took over that job. Interesting how shifts in a herd population change, and how important animals are in the lives of those who love them.

As with any life, my has recently had its share of challenging times, but what anchors me in reality, what keeps me from self-indulgence is my animals. All of them, but especially the girls in the barn. The therapeutic value of knowing that no matter how you feel, or what the weather is, you get up, out, and take care of them. Like Benjamin Franklin's aphorism, "Take care of your shop and your shop will take care of you," the girls take good care of me. So too does my husband, and of course, my network of friends, like my herd, is small but just perfect. No one could ask for more.

But still, there's something in the nuzzle of a velvet soft face of a llama, their breath, which my breeder and I swear is healing, and that way that they sense need and deliver comfort, unasked but there, is all the motivation that I need each day to brave the elements (not hard today at 72 degrees and sunny) for a larger than life reward.