Friday Eve March 27th… Twas a Day To Remember Alright……

Today was spent doing the morning blog, working on a little bit of remaining paperwork, leaving the animals out and then heading to the bank to have a paper notarized. We arrived at the bank and asked if we could get the paper notarized, but the lady wasn’t there. She had gone for lunch and wouldn’t be back until later.
Now I don’t know for sure, but it seems that every time I go down to Hootersville for something… the person I need to see is either not in, off sick, on vacation or just decided they didn’t want to work that day…… Never Fails! Anyway, Vicki wanted to go to the “Just A Buck” dollar store to pick up some plate stands to display her stained glass quilt squares in the bakery, so we went there. After leaving with much more than we went in for (as always happens) we took off for Coxsackie for lunch/dinner at Paul’s where I had shrimp fettuccini Alfredo and Vick had seafood over linguini with sauce. It was a memorable meal for a birthday bash… just Vicki and I. Once we were fully stuffed and the remainder was boxed to go, we headed for Athens, to see our Alpaca's and take a few pictures, if Isabelle was home. When we arrived, we saw that the farrier was there trimming hooves on Isabelle’s horse and her Mini pony. We watched for a bit and chatted with the man and woman farriers then went on back through the barn to a door leading to Iggy and Luke, our Alpacas.
We spent about fifteen minutes snapping pictures of Iggy and Luke, but got a few of the other Alpacas and Max, the Lama. Max is the sweetest thing, as he checks you out by coming directly up to you and sniffing your breath, smelling your hair and skin, to decide if he like you or not. If he likes you, he will hang around you and be cool, but if he doesn’t like you, he will take off and stay away from you all together. Below are today’s pictures. I know you have all been waiting to see them here at the farm, so just hang in there until next Sunday, when Isabelle will bring them to the farm. She say’s the shearing wouldn’t be until May, so you could be assured that they would be ok without their wool and the weather just hasn’t co-operated so far, but May would be warm and safe, so she will pick them up the day before shearing will take place at her farm. We’ll be there all day long for that!! You can click on any photo below to view it in full screen.




This is one of the Farriers doing his job



This is the other Farrier doing her's.

This is Max the Lama.....

Max, checking Vicki out. He is smelling her breath and he will remember her.

This is a sixteen year old neighbor girl that helps Isabelle groom and exercise the horses. She has horses or ponies at home.

This is our Luke.

This is our Iggy.

Vicki loving Luke and he's loving it!

Iggy enjoying the warm sunshine. He is very cautious and rigid. He's the watchdog.

This is Isabelle with Iggy. She is a terrific person.

Friday March 27th… This Will be a Day To Remember………

Starting yesterday afternoon, we picked up the mail and I got a card from my very favorite cousin and one from my brother, wishing me a happy birthday and so far this morning, I’ve gotten a phone call wishing me a happy birthday and a singer that sung happy birthday to me. Though all of this makes me very happy and I’m spending the day with Vicki, the love of my life, who was right here at midnight to be the first one to wish me happy birthday on my actual birthday, I think of my dear old mother, who gave me birth fifty eight years ago today. How I wish she, along with my Dad, who is stuck in an old folks home in Huntingdon, Pa., were here to celebrate with us!!

Another email I just received from a friend, was received from a government worker just this morning, which adds to the disgust felt with our government.
Remember when this economic crisis hit, and Congress let Bear Sterns go under, pushed a bunch of forced marriages between banks, etc.?Then later on…… they bailed out AIG. At the time, I thought: "That's strange. What does an insurance company have to do with this crisis?"I think I just found the answer. Among other things, AIG INSURES THE PENSION TRUST OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS!! No wonder they got bailed out right away!To hell with the people, let's protect our future , said all ourSenators and Representatives. Nice to see where their loyalties lie!The guy then said “I'm from the government and I'm here to help you! You need to send this to everyone you know!!!!”

Now doesn’t that just piss ya off about right as you think of how your 401K has shrunk and friends of yours have lost their homes and everything is becoming so expensive???????
Well at least you don’t have to worry about your elected officials. As I said yesterday, they can still go to the fanciest restaurant, drink their champagne and enjoy their steak. We’ll go to McDonald’s if we have enough money to do so.

Oh yeah, When we can no longer afford McDonald’s, maybe we can go to this soup line. As received by email today also………
Michelle Obama serves food to D.C. poor and homeless, but...

First Lady Michelle Obama showed up Thursday as a surprise and welcome volunteer at Miriam's Kitchen, a soup kitchen for homeless poor people who live in a shelter not far from the White House. She brought with her some food donated by White House staff. The first lady served up mushroom risotto and broccoli to a long line of homeless men and women during part of her volunteer time.
…..This unidentified meal recipient is too poor to buy his own food, how does he afford a cell phone?
And if he is homeless, where do they send the cell phone bills?
Where does he plug in the charger, and who pays the electric bill?
ANYWAY,
The weather is beautiful, Vicki is beautiful and I’m gonna enjoy the day. Thanks to all who have remembered to wish me a happy birthday!

This is a cute comic strip about the handling of the AIG Bailout......

Thurs March 26th… Life in the Fast Lane…Could Break Your Neck… or Your Bank Account and Empty Your Wallet!!

You know….there once was a time that you could remain safe if you didn’t want to participate in something that you thought was dangerous, BUT……. not anymore. Just living a day to day existence is enough to be involved in potentially dangerous dealings that could or will devastate not only you, but your entire family for years to come. It used to be, that when you were broke, you were broke. End of story…… Grab yourself by the boot straps and pull yourself up and you could start over, free and clear to try to achieve that “American Dream” again.
These days, it’s not that easy… I’m not really sure you get that chance to start over, because there are so many individuals in that boat, that there’s no one left to fund the voyages anymore. How many folks lost their entire life’s earnings with AIG? How will they start over. There are no jobs… few programs left to help, that haven’t been done away with… and between Obama and Paterson, here in New York… there will be nothing left. Taxing soda, ski lift tickets, bowling, iTune downloads, gym memberships, all NY subscription services, taxing all clothing again, movie tickets, Insurance policies, removing the incentive to make movies in the big apple and taxing us $10 to do a paper tax return makes this guy the biggest A...hole the state ever had! None of this will remove the deficit, because all tax payers will hate him and simply shy away from these tax increased activities and commodities…… but this will also breed more and more hatred toward the state officials who continue to sip their Champagne and dine at all the best restaurants, in their suits and evening gowns and take in an opera, as we eat McDonald's fries, a paper thin hamburger and sip water....... hopefully in a joint close enough to home, so we can walk there. In closing…… I will make the same statement I made when Obama took office, “I pray to God for the man’s safety… in a world where so many people are losing everything that they have worked an entire life for and can no longer cope with life…… how close to mentally disturbed, must any one individual out of the millions of people in this condition be, to pick up a gun and shoot the one in charge…… figuring it is that individual’s fault that they are losing everything? How far, would one person who lost everything, have to slide to cross that line? This guy can’t even see it coming…………

Wed. eve march, 25... Happy chickens, ducks and a pheasant……

Today was a beautiful, sunny day for the ducks and chickens. The turkey’s were out walking around, putting and coughing as usual. Lately, Phillip Dé Pheasant is showing his muscle by not backing down when the chickens and especially when Timmy DaTurkey tries to push him around. He actually tried to jump up to spur Timmy the other day… but anyway, Phillip stands very erect and drums his wings for about fifteen seconds, in a show of dominance. I’d guess there is a little spring fever and he is advertising for a mate too, but alas…… there’s no Felicia A. McPheasant on the farm, so he might have an eye on a cute lady chicken………… It’s Possible!!
Tomorrow, we are going to spend a little time in the barn and install the outside chicken run light, so the girls and boys will have some light at night out there. There are quite a few birds that prefer to roost out there, on the high roosts, but they are in the dark.
If all goes well, we can also pull a line from a switch and get some lights upstairs in the loft so we can throw hay at night if needed when the Alpacas come. Receptacles won’t really be that important up there right away, so we don’t have to worry if we don’t get them right away. We’ll have to find a good fifty-five gallon barrel with a lid so we can keep the Alpaca feed next to the stable.

Since all the paperwork is just about cleaned up for right now, I’ll be able to blog in the mornings again and during the day, I’ll be able to plan the buildings and deck roof out back. We want to get things started early and get done early this year, so we can enjoy our summer by doing a little fishing and boating on the Hudson, unless our idiot governor taxes the fish, worms and water…… along with everything else he wants to tax.
I saw today that there will be tons of state workers that used to work, who can sit along the creeks and river trying to catch something to eat, since they won’t have a job anymore. He sure can’t see what he’s doing to New York with all these taxes and budget cuts (and there’s no pun intended, when I say he can’t see what he‘s doing to us!!!) I just hope New York can survive, let alone all of us

Liar, Liar, pants on fire... My how you nose has grown!

And this from http://tinypianos.livejournal.com/

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson yesterday insisted he had no idea who did the slime job on Caroline Kennedy - although the source of the information is about as close to him during the day as his wife is at night.

He's a liar.

The person responsible for the smear was an individual whose identity is well known to the press, whose full-time job is to do the governor's bidding, and who is intelligent enough not to call reporters to damage Kennedy's reputation without approval from the top - and that means Paterson.( more. )

The following is from community.livejournal.com :
Curse Of Caroline Leaves Paterson Trailing Cuomo 2-1, Gillibrand Behind McCarthy!!!

The Caroline Kennedy caper continues to bedevil New York Gov. David Paterson as he trails Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 55 - 23 in an early look at a 2010 Democratic primary for Governor, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.In a general election matchup, Gov. Paterson ties former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a possible Republican challenger, 43 - 43 percent, with 10 percent undecided, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Paterson leads 70 - 18 percent among Democrats, while Giuliani leads 80 - 9 percent among Republicans and 47 - 38 percent among independent voters. New York City voters go with Paterson 52 - 35 percent, while Giuliani leads 48 - 36 percent among suburban voters and 47 - 38 percent upstate.Attorney General Cuomo leads Giuliani 51 - 37 percent in the Governor's race, ahead 81 - 11 percent among Democrats and 45 - 40 percent among independent voters. Giuliani leads 76 - 11 percent among Republicans. Cuomo is up 61 - 30 percent in New York City and 48 - 41 percent in the suburbs and gets 44 percent of upstate voters to Giuliani's 42 percent.New York State voters approve 45 - 41 percent of the job Paterson is doing, his lowest approval rating in 11 months as Governor and down from 50 - 30 percent January 26.Voters disapprove 52 - 35 percent of the way Paterson handled the appointment of a U.S. Senator to fill Hillary Clinton's seat. Disapproval is similar across the political spectrum. ( Read more... )

How could anyone be worse than a man that causes mass unemployment in times such as these? How does he think all these people that he lays off will live? Unemployment?? Welfare??? Who will pay for all these people???? No wonder Patterson enjoys a lower rating than Elliot Spitzer during his prostitute fiasco, which we were paying for. Now that, Mr. Paterson is a true accomplishment!!

Wed March 25th… Taxes Done… 501-c Done… ISBN App Done…

Done…Done…Done… All done! I finally got all the tax crap completed this morning and into the mail at the post office. After doing so, I concentrated on the requirements for a “Conflict of Interest Policy” to finish up the application of the 501-C(3) designation for the Nature’s Friend’s of Hospice, Inc. entity we have formed. It will soon be printed, packaged and in the mail to be approved as a 501-c(1) or a 501-c(2), which ever the federal government decides to determine we should be. We have already qualified with them as a 501-C(3), which was the first step. You cannot get the other designation before first satisfying that, so we’re over half way there.
We had to create an “Articles of incorporation”, A “Charitable Trust Declaration”, the “Conflict of Interest Policy” and then get a declaration from the Columbia - Green County Hospice, stating that they were a qualified charitable organization and that they were willing to except all donations from Nature’s Friend’s of Hospice, Inc.
Having all this in hand, all we need to do now is finish filling out the thirty page application and affix this other packet of paperwork and sent it off to the Federal Government.

We’ll keep after this, to get it completed, so we can get the materials list together for the hospice gift shop materials……… and have Jeff come over and see about pouring and finishing off a concrete slab, where it goes out front. When that is completed… and we get the materials…… we will be in the building mode again. Sounds like fun, Huh?
If there is any idle time waiting on any of these things to happen, we still have the upstairs lighting and receptacles to run in the barn loft and then, outside run lighting in the chicken area too, which will be on a dusk to dawn control.

Tuesday March 24th… It’s Official…Building Permit’s Approved…

We got notification today that our permit for the building of the hospice Gift shop has been approved. That means we can now order the materials from Middle Field Lumber and when it’s ready, start construction of that building. They were holding it because they thought it would have to go before the committee, but upon checking a second time, found that we could run it under a family business… and being that it is going to be a 501-C not for profit, non-taxable, charitable entity, it would be ok to proceed and it wouldn’t need to go before committee. That was great news. After receiving that tidbit of news, we took of and went to Mavis Tires in Hudson to have all the tires on the car replaced and balanced, then they did an alignment on the front end to stop the wear we saw on the tires last spring. In fact, I pointed it out to the Toyota folks and asked if they would check the alignment at that time and they assured us that the alignment was ok. WRONG!! Anyway…now it’s done and done right.
Carol L. came over after work again and we finished her picture correctly this time and boy is it beautiful. She should really be proud of both of the pictures we matted and framed. Makes me wish I could invest the time and effort that Vick and Carol do and possibly produce a painting as lovely as theirs, but I can’t. I enjoy writing too much to sit there, hour after hour painting when I could be writing………… but I do love their artwork.
We are going to grab the ISBN numbers, the SAN and the UPC for my poetry book at the beginning of the month, possibly. That will be at least a fifteen day wait for the ISBN block of numbers, so we can conceivably figure a month or better to get to print and have the books back here. Takes time to do everything I guess.

Monday Eve March 23rd… Cold all day long... COME ON SPRING!!

We’re tired of this cold crap. We want spring!!!! We were tempted and tantalized by the warm, sunny spring days of last week and we want more. We made Vick’s appointment with Dr. Lee in Tannersville today and she feels a little bit better. She needs to feel better…… as does her Dad, because we all want to go to the flower show in Troy on the 28th and Joe had a bad attack of gout in his knee. He should be ok by the time of the flower show, because he took his medicine and it worked pretty good because in twenty-four hours or so, the redness was out of his knee and he could stand to leave the covers touch his knee. Before the medicine, anything that touched it caused pain. I think Vicki will be squared away until then too.
Carol L. our neighbor down the road, and fellow artist, came over this evening for us to cut some matt’s for her watercolor paintings. She has two that are gallery quality and look really so much more professional once matted. She forgot the glass on one, so we could only finish the one, but we will finish it tomorrow evening. She is a nice girl and a nurse too. Seems like everyone we know up here is either Italian, a nurse or an artist……… and maybe all three. Unfortunately the next gathering of our group at the library, to paint, is going to be on one of the nights we promised Richie we would positively come to his house for dinner, so we will miss painting that evening and then look forward to the next ones in May and June. Well, it’s now 11:00 so I’m going to finish up here and eat dinner before it turns into breakfast.

Mon March 23rd… Everybody Wants Our Rabbits To EAT… Nada…

Everyone stops to see if they can talk us out of the several rabbits we have in the barn. Now we are not raising rabbits for pets or food, so we turn them away. Our friends, for some reason… keep sending them here for rabbits… I wonder why?
Vick has an appointment with Dr. Lee on the mountain for her back again. Gotta go… we’ll blog a complete entry this evening. This morning, I was concentrating on my ISBN application for Skip Watt Publishing, the publishing company I am starting so I can publish my own books. I am buying a block of ten ISBN numbers to start because I have two completed books to publish and am already into chapter two and over thirty-five or forty pages, so I need the ten block.
Stay tuned this evening for a better more complete blog.