Welcome to Baby Goat Video Delivery System

Being a singleton instead of a twin, Xylo has the great good fortune of Aidan helping him expand his baby goat gymnastic and cute skills.

Aidan and Xylo in Goat Games...

Extra credit goes to Sebastian the Rat Terrier who also plays with Xylo. 

No extra credit to Toby who plays with Sebastian, avoids Xylo, gets in the way of Bert's training, and plays with Bert's leash while it's still attached. Frezz is still Alpha Dog.

Breathe

First, let's take a moment and breathe. Just breathe. Let your body feel your breath. Celebrate that and that justice came yesterday for the murder of George Floyd. A corner was turned. Much, much work must still be done, but we can celebrate that the right thing was done. Many, many people did the right thing. Justice breathed and did the right thing. All thanks and praise. Amen.

*

Our hemisphere is in its grand awakening from winter and that couldn't be more welcome after the extreme distresses of the year past.

Remember those clouds of frog eggs in the pond? Well, here's what's going on now...

Thousands of pollywogs!

And X has a name--"Xylo" for Xylophone...

From Aidan.

From Keoni.

Out West, Elijah is playing with his team in basketball tournaments. Here are some snaps from the trip to St. George, UT...

Kingston & Elijah...

...and Jeff, too...

Elijah.

Back at their hometown, Kingston opened his Easter card that had been a couple of weeks in transit so arrived far past Easter. 

Spring sprang in the Midwest, too...

Susie's Dogwood. It has a special name which I can't find now.

Jeanenne shared a picture she had restored of Mom and Dad. None of us knows the exact date it was taken but it is for sure mid-1930s because Dad still has a full hairline.

Sandy's pink Dogwood.

I started spreading birdseed on the outside sill of my bedroom window. So far, only a squirrel has found it...

It has meant a lot to be able to meet my vax bubble family at the farm and share some times with them, as well as, my vax bubble friend Pat. I can't say grocery shopping has improved much. It is still sort of a mess. Still, it now has the potential to get much better.

The other day, while sitting on the porch at the farm with Keoni who was eating his lunch before we took a walk, who came up and climbed on my lap but Toby. Golly, it was like old times...

From Keoni.

How the Blog Began

Siri tells me $5.15 per hour was the United States minimum wage January 2001 when at age 60 I secured a much-needed steady job. It paid $7.52 per hour for receptionist work at the local community college. Then, as now, neither was a living wage. It turned out the benefits that came with that lowly, entry-level college position far outweighed the income. In retirement, I am gratefully living those benefits two decades later. 

In 2001, as many, many others do and have done, more work was the answer to keep the rent paid, food on the table, and gas in the car. Here, I need to insert a shoutout to my daughter Wendy who augmented and paid for much of her college expenses with house- and animal-sitting work. In 2001 her example came to mind and I started Casas and Critters. 

Like Wendy, my clients came from nearby veterinary office referrals and from word of mouth. Besides monetary benefits, it provided learning about business practices and experiences not yet encountered in my life with the side-benefit of caring for plants and animals I sorely missed from earlier times. 

I could calendar Casas & Critters jobs along the edges of my full-time work, either temporarily living in the residence or making scheduled home visits. It was part of my service to make an entry on a handwritten log each day or at the time of each visit noting what care took place and observations. This, I left on a counter or table for the clients' return home as a sort of reassurance that what they entrusted to me had, indeed, taken place.

Over time, my position and wages at the college improved, but I thoroughly enjoyed continuing my sideline for a long time, though only for a much-shortened client list. The Casas & Critters' log notes began to expand and actual appreciative feedback came from my client friends, Carol and Janie. It was fun.  

Eventually, demands of relocating for periods of time to live in others' homes, before and after work forays to residences becoming harder to meet, and reoccurring knee problems (replaced a few years later in 2011 and 2012), I decided to set the business aside.

There was one more time I house-animal-plant sat for Carol and Janie. You'll find the first blog post of Thursday, June 6, 2013, was my log for them. And that is how and where the blog began.

*

Twenty-thirteen had huge changes for me and for Wendy's part of our family. John was already in Pennsylvania working at his new job and Wendy, Keoni, and Aidan were tasked with prepping their home for sale and the actual selling of it. John was tasked with finding a home in Pennsylvania for them all, including the animals, then buying it. In Tucson, there was plenty of work left over for me to help with, too. 

That spring, I was also looking for different housing for myself and was prepping my small condo for sale. I had begun to look at different housing closer to bike paths in Tucson. That plan changed soon after Wendy and John were together again in PA when they called and asked if I wanted to join them there. I said yes. 

Then, things really happened fast. By July 19th, I found myself on the road in a new car with my pared-down belongings and Toby stowed in it. Nine other boxes were shipped on Greyhound to PA because there wasn't time to secure normal moving companies. (I don't recommend anyone ship that way because the boxes arrived terribly beaten up and a couple of treasured items shattered.)

After 53 years in Tucson, I was going to an entirely different place leaving behind a town I still loved, full of wonderful friendships, people I cared for, and still care about. The blog became a way to keep in touch with them and a log of new adventures.

*

Now, to explain the recent blog post gap between Thanksgiving 2020 and March 21, 2021. The relentless catastrophes of 2020 were inducing a weird sort of numbing.  December is blurry now, and a lot of my January and some of February. Damages, sadness, loss, starvation for touch, for being together, likely all and more still synthesizing played a role in simply not wanting to post anything for a while.

Mostly though, it was a health challenge that had swept in, rattled around, and demanded my full attention. The breast cancer had fired up again with a new lump that wasn't actually the cyst it was thought to be last summer. This time, doctor, please just take the breast. I don't need it. So that is what happened. Oncology thinks that the surgery got the cancer cells and I am suppressing estrogen with pills. All thanks and praise that neither chemo nor radiation was recommended.

*

I have wondered for a long time what to do with the many images and written things I've done. A website was considered and explored, but as I wrestled with the logistics, the impetus declined. Partly, due to escaping chemo, I think. I'd planned it to focus on during the weeks I wouldn't be feeling well. Before long, it became apparent I was actually re-inventing the wheel. I figured out how to make "Pages" here in the blog where I can stash an archive of images and such as I get them organized and posted in the Electric Attic.

So, I am back with you and very happy you are here, too.

No Zen at Walmart

Tuesday: Well, I definitely did not center my psyche while grocery shopping on my early foray into the wilds of senior hours at a small-store Walmart and a local supermarket. Frustrations mounted with the whole venture this morning culminating in acknowledging I need another whole think on where I put my shopping energy and resources next, now that we are beginning vaccinated emergence from isolate life. My beloved Allentown Road farm market has some nice produce but recently, the offerings must be sorted--those derived from local and Lancaster County from those hauled in from out-of-state. Hmmm. 

So, I'm wading through pandemic quandaries for basics again as many others likely are. The Walmart curbside pickup this past year has become really efficient and pretty darn good with lots of organic choices. Maybe that will be a mainstay for the near future since I'm finding no Zen in grocery shopping as yet.

Wednesday: Whew! Can't think too hard because far more questions emerge than there could possibly be a supply of answers.

So let's review a bit. The Easter dinner on Sunday at the farm in our vax bubble proved to fulfill last week's post pipe dream of what I envision in my food future since we were enjoying time at the table once more. 

The afternoon began in the kitchen when I arrived...

Wendy is still cutting Keoni's hair. He likes her haircuts better than the local shop.

The breeze was still a little too chilly for outdoor dining but sitting down together was hugely satisfying, nonetheless. We had good food and sat there a long time enjoying conversation. 

Then, Aidan and Keoni played a mini-concert which John recorded and emailed the link to me. Listening, with the instruments and musicians right there in the same room, was so very good...

Wendy took me on an upstairs tour of the new parakeet additions to the family...

Claude, Diego, Vincent, and Toulouse--sent from Wendy.

And, of course, Picasso! He still loves Wendy and her hair; even attacks her hairband if she pulls it back.

Speaking of artists, Keoni came up with some more when he and Aidan made Easter eggs...

Likely, Vashti is a mystery, but he's the main character in a children's book about Art, The Dot.

And Paula shared her March color impressions with us that echo the southwestern desert so well.

And, one of the cactus originally on my patio is still alive and doing well at Paula and Carl's. Hello, Desert Springtime. I miss you.

Happy Easter! to Those Who Celebrate

And to Earth's countless others trudging through this pandemic with me, a warm wish that you are faring well, and staying well. May you be blessed and loved wherever you are on life's journey.