South Pacific travel - Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, Cooks
We are planning our next vacation. It appears we may meet up with Nostril and his family in Australia. They can get there pretty cheap from Japan. I was astounded when I looked and saw that the round trip from JFK to Tokyo is only about $550.00 US. Cheap. It looks like we can get to Australia for about a grand. We will probably rent a house on the coast somewhere. Of course, we will have to see Sydney since I haven't been there before.
It is about 10 below zero outside right now. The coal stove cannot keep the house warm alone. The furnace has come on a couple of times this evening. I am trying to figure out how to get more heat out of the stove. I am thinking that some of the air vents are partially filled with ash. It is way too hot to dismantle those parts now, however.
I hope the llamas are ok. I turned up their heater, and gave them more straw. It is cold out there though, even for them.
Posts
Fireplaces and Wood Stoves :: Green Nature ::
No reports of break-ins today. I think I would be somewhat reserved in breaking into a house around here. Everyone has guns, or dogs, or both... Dogs with guns!.. Ahh. It makes you think doesn't it.
I have been thinking a lot about what my management mentor has talked with me about. Most of the material is very subtle as far as education... But when you are like me and think about stuff over and over... And over. Some good stuff spins out of the conversation later on. Weird. I can definitely make stress out of something that had no stress. Sometimes I find myself thinking... If it is easy, I must be missing something. I am getting better at dealing with this. I do find myself getting the deer in the headlights situation sometimes a little more in some cases... The blogger helps too.
Internal memo confirms IBM move to Linux desktop
It is cold out this morning. The stove was out this morning as well. I should have put some coal in it last night but the wood is free and the coal costs pennies. I got a new propane tank for the llamas so they were probably nice and toasty in their llamahouse. I have to get the other tank filled today. I am really having a problem loosing this cold. It is not a bad cold, just tenacious. I have to go do the animal feeding in a couple o' minutes...uh oh.. The snow plow just went by the house. I might have to plow.
A state trooper stopped by last night. It turns out someone broke into the neighbor's house yesterday during the day. They didn't take anything it appears. They said there was another similar break in over on Wilson creek road. The neighbor called and told us about the same stuff the trooper did. We are keeping our eyes peeled for any thing suspicious.
Barn Art . . .
Well all five llamas now have their rabies shots. The vet paid a farm visit and we had them all fixed up in about 40 minutes.
The only bad part was that Fawna decided to spit on me.. Man what a stink. It is not spit it is actually projectile vomit... peweee. Life's enrichment of being a llama rancher.
One World Works : Taking time out
Today it is back to work. Most of the folks have been away for two weeks or more. It is a new year and time for resolutions, and reflection. I already have a bid on ebay for Fawna's combings of wool (an ounce or so). It is only 2 dollars but she will be the first one of the herd to actually buy a bale o' hay.
I was also thinking about the power of a journal as I keep in this blog. I don't capture everything thats for sure but it is fun to see what I was doing a couple of years ago. Things change.
Radio Free Binghamton | 90.5MHz WHRW-FM An interesting day. I am listening to reggae from our local university station. Our host played a couple of classic requests for me: Jimmy Cliff; "Give the people what they want" and Bob Marley; "No Woman, No cry". I am interested by the modern fusion of reggae with "trance", "techno" and asian/latin influences. Very interesting indeed. I have decided that tea is a more powerful drug than beer when considering the subleties. The following picture is of some combings of Fawna I have on sale on ebay.
medieval labyrinths - contemporary medieval
I decided on a pattern for my labyrinth. It is called the "santa rosa" as shown in the picture. It is a contemporary design based on the Chartres labyrinth in France. I specifically like it since it has a focal point that you view from four angles on the way in and on the way out. The design is 200 feet across which calculates out to be almost exactly 1 mile to walk in and then out. I am still deciding what the attraction points will be in the center and at the focal point but I know I will use water in at least one spot. Maybe a fire pot at another. The labyrith is crudely staked out now through the arrowwood viburnum. I am going to use the small tractor to mow it since I measure the holder turning radius at 12 feet. That is a tight turning radius for a 65 hp tractor but not tight enough for the switch backs on the labyrinth. I have to do all this work in the winter or spring while everything is dead so I can actually see what