I Want a Cow for Christmas

(photo source: Wikipedia Commons)


Driving my children to school this morning, 
I heard a story on NPR about dairy cows: 
Milk Producers Peer Over the Dairy Cliff. 

The dairy farmer they were interviewing made a comment about how the feed for the cow was more expensive that the end product ... the milk. 


Did you know that the government sets the milk price?
I didn't.


And, apparently, if a new farm bill doesn't pass through Congress, 
milk could rise to $6-$8 a gallon!


So, I told my boys that we were going to have to buy a dairy cow.
That way we could have our own milk in the backyard.


But, my older son, who had been listening to the radio with me, 
reminded me that feeding the cow was the most expensive part. 


Oh, right.

But, he had a solution!

"Mama, we can feed the cow Ramen Noodles."



Brilliant! 



(I wonder if our apartment complex requires a pet deposit for a dairy cow?)



 

Stinky Whale Breath & Cookie-Smelling Trees

Lately I can feel that little spark coming to life again inside of me.
This summer...wait, no...these last few years...but mainly this summer, has been really tough.

And I think I've withdrawn.
And pulled away.
And lost energy for extra things...like blogging and writing and photography and friends.

But this week...I've been feeling that spark flare up just a little bit now and then.
It kind of tickles.
Makes me remember there's something inside...something that inspires me and makes me want more.
It flares a little, and I find I need to sit down and write.

So, here I am. Trying to kindle that spark, turn it into a tall flame, so that I can burn towards my full potential.

I saw the movie Julie and Julia this weekend with my mother, my grandmother, and a friend of ny mom's.
It was a great movie!

It made me want to cook, it made me want to eat, and more than anything, it made me hungry to find my place in the world.
To find that lifeline I can grab onto to pull myself out of the downing ocean.
It's a great movie.

And I listened to stories about a woman trying to catch the horned whales, the Narwhals, on National Public Radio.
And how as she struggles with the whale to put on the tracking device, she is blasted with whale breath.
And that sounds disgusting and amazing all at the same time.

I also heard a story about Ponderosa trees in Arizona that can be hit by lightening and not burn. And they smell like cookies baking.
And it reminds me how much nature amazes me.

Wikipedia says, "The bark of the Ponderosa Pine has a smell similar to vanilla.Some describe it as the smell of a "cookie".^[1] The Ponderosa Pine has a very distinct bark. Unlike most conifers, it has an orange bark, with black lining the crevasses, where the bark "splits"."

Have you heard any good stories lately
involving nature or something amazing?

Do you have a spark inside of you?

I've missed the blogging world.